Creatures Great and Small
by Andrea13 and PersephoneKore
Summary: Stepbrothers 4. It's stepbrothers Tom Riddle and Rubeus Hagrid's third year together at Hogwarts. Rubeus finds a unique creatures in Hogsmeade...while Tom hunts for one in the castle. The Chamber of Secrets has been opened...
1. Little Petshop of Horrors

_Disclaimer: This is a work of fan-fiction based on the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling. No undue claim nor any material profit is intended._

****

Creatures Great and Small  
by Andrea13 and Persephone  
Chapter 1

"Can't you hide it?"

"Can't YOU? Throw the curst thing away if you have to. Just not here. It's more than my shop's worth to get caught with it."

Rubeus's ears perked up as the whispered voices reached him. He shuffled a bit more behind the shelves in an attempt to stay inconspicuous. Anything people were whispering about had to be interesting...

"You won't get caught with it. How hard can it be to find a buyer? You _know_ how much these things are worth!"

The shopkeeper scowled. "Well, then, if it's so easy then _you_ find one."

"I don't have _time_! I'm catching the evening portkey out and you _know_ how they search you before that."

"Well you're not leaving the thing _here_. It's been a mite too long since the last 'inspection.'"

By this point, Rubeus was _dying_ to know what the two men were talking about. He hadn't been expecting to find anything really absorbing in the pet shop, even one in the slightly...seamier side of Hogsmeade that none of the students were supposed to go to. But they wouldn't be talking like this unless it was a really _interesting_ creature on the line! 

He shifted a bit more, half-crouching behind a rack of cages. Usually the peculiar merchandise back here was supposed to warn the shopkeep if there was anyone lurking too long, but Rubeus had already made friends with them. He'd been considering bringing one back to Hogwarts, but this sounded more fun....

"Look, what am I supposed to do with it then?"

"I don't know. I don't care. As long as there's no trace of it left in my shop." Rubeus heard a sigh. "I'm sorry about this, I am, but you'll have to get rid of it somewhere else. If I tried handling a Class A Untradable right now I doubt I'd be in business next time you come through."

The other man grumbled. "Fine. Don't come to me next time _you_ need a favor, then." Rubeus heard footsteps, then the slamming of the door.

He chewed gently and thoughtfully on the inside of his cheek for a moment and sneaked the last scrap from his lunch to something bright pink with claws on the ends of its tentacles, resolving to find out what it was some time later. He really, really wanted to know what kind of Untradable egg that visitor was carrying. And he kind of hoped the man wouldn't have ditched it before Rubeus could catch up to him. Well...not someplace too hard to find, anyway. Wasn't trading or even giving if he picked it up off some trash in the corner or something, was it?

He started to skulk his way back out of the shop, but his progress was interrupted by a sharp voice. "You there!"

When Rubeus turned, the shopkeeper's eyes were bulging over a scowl -- and there was a wand pointed at him. 

"What are you doing still in here?"

Rubeus lifted his hands placatingly. "I was just lookin' at the animals." He hesitated. "If you're worried I heard stuff -- I heard a bit, but don' worry, all right? I'm no Auror or anythin' -- I'm just at Hogwarts, an', well, I really like... interestin' creatures." He smiled hopefully. "I can' get any today -- I think my roommates are a little tired of my pets -- but I'd really hate not bein' able to come back."

"_You're_ at Hogwarts?" The shopkeeper looked over him dubiously, but no one wore robes with a Hogwarts crest on the front except students, no matter _how_ tall they were. Then he shrugged sharply. "Doesn't matter what you heard. I didn't do anything but turn down merchandise like I was supposed to. Now get out of here. Come back when you have money to spend, and not before."

"I know you didn' take anything." ~But I'm planning to if I can!~ He grinned. "I'll sure be back when I can get the other boys to quit fussin'." Rubeus prudently shut his mouth after this, despite a strong urge to ask just _what_ the shopkeeper hadn't taken. He'd do better to ask the other man anyway, right?

Out on the street, not quite as quickly as he would have liked, he looked both ways. The pet shop was conveniently near the end of the alley, so it was more likely Rubeus's quarry had gone left than right -- but there was a white spot in the corner at the end, and Rubeus wasted a precious several seconds finding out it was only some sort of mushroom. Probably _not_ what the man had been trying to unload, then. Not in a pet shop. Rubeus hurried back in the other direction, glad his height let him see further than most. He'd only caught a glimpse of the nervous trader when he'd first entered the shop...The alley wasn't _that_ crowded, but there were still several likely possibilities...

...Except one of them had been walking much faster than the others but had now suddenly stopped and was loitering casually beside a trash heap outside a book shop.

Rubeus kept walking quickly and purposefully, then stopped to peer into the window of the book shop. One of the books actually caught his attention -- it was a new one, called _The Monster Book of Monsters_, and the copy in the window was strapped down and struggling violently against its bonds. He felt rather sorry for it, but he had to keep an eye on the man who might have an egg. Maybe he should actually talk to him. What if he threw it down on the trash heap and let it _break_?

"Um....sir?" Probably not the most witty of opening remarks, but it was the best he could think of off-hand.

The man started violently. Rubeus winced a bit. Tom always said, if you insisted on doing something you weren't supposed to, you'd better act like you weren't doing anything wrong. "What do you want?" The man looked at him properly, looked _up_ at him, and gulped. "Er..."

"I just...er...I was back in the pet shop," Rubeus blurted out, not sure how to say, "I know you have a Class A Untradable and I want it." Well, actually he supposed that _was_ one option, but it didn't seem like a very good idea.

The man paled, and his eyes darted off to the side. "What about it?"

"Well...I, um, I'm good with animals. Interestin' ones, that most folks don't like."

"Uh-huh?" The stranger was sweating, and his lips moved a bit more without sound. Rubeus thought he might've said, "Not cut out for this."

"Well..." Rubeus wasn't cut out for this sort of thing either, as he really preferred to be blunt when he could, but he _was_ determined. A thought occurred to him, and he brightened. "And I don' have to take a Portkey this evening."

The man started violently. "How much did you hear?" he whispered urgently, then looked around the alley nervously. "Never mind. I don't care. I don't know what you're talking about."

Rubeus grinned teasingly and mostly naturally, though he had his hand on his wand inside his pocket. "I can tell _you've_ been out o' school for a while; nobody'd fall for that." He shrugged. "Do what you want, I s'pose." He lowered his voice a little. "Won' anybody find it if you leave it lying here."

The man's eyes shifted. "Right. Wouldn't want anyone to stumble over it accidentally." He sighed in resignation and turned around. Rubeus caught a flash of white as he reached into his robes and set something carefully in back of the trash heap, then straightened quickly. Without another word, he brushed past Rubeus and hurried back down the alley.

Rubeus fought with himself not to just reach down and grab it; instead, he went into the book shop and asked how much The Monster Book of Monsters cost. He winced at the price -- for real -- pled student-hood and limited funds, and turned to slump back out and get his egg. 

To his surprise, he was stopped on the way out of a shop for the second time today. "Boy --"

He half-turned. "Yes, sir?"

The shopkeeper groaned quietly. "I never _saw_ such a foolish trick for books; I can already predict I'll end up selling most of them for half price. I'll give you one for that now if you won't tell." His eyes narrowed. "If _wanting_ one means that's the sort of thing that appeals to you, then if you can calm the rest of them down I'll cut the price to a quarter."

Rubeus's face lit up. "Really?" On the one hand, he'd get a book that for one just looked _neat_ and for another might have some information on his new egg. On the other....he really didn't want to leave the egg out there for long on its own. It could get stepped on or something... "Well, I can try, sir."

"The ones in the window are all right for now. Come try in the back." The shopkeeper cursed when he opened the door to the back room and two of the books flew out in fierce battle. He aimed his wand, but they'd flown straight at Rubeus's head. Rubeus, rather startled, automatically reached up and caught them.

"Here now -- I can see why you're havin' troubles with 'em, sir -- easy there!" He tried to pull them apart; one let go of a sheaf of the other's pages and snapped at his hand. Rubeus clamped it shut, frowned at the books in either of his hands, and tucked one carefully under his arm while rubbing his thumb along the spine. "Settle down...." Petting them seemed to work well; he stroked the one he still held gently all the way down, and it went limp. He handed it to the dumbfounded shopkeeper after a bit more and repeated the treatment on the other. 

"...They send me biting books that want to be _petted_," the poor man muttered in disbelief. "I never would've thought of that." He shook his head faintly while still petting the book gingerly. "I didn't think it would be this _quick_, but I'd say you've earned your discount."

"Thanks." Rubeus grinned happily and sidled into the back room; the rest of the books were tied down, like the ones in the display case, but they quivered angrily until he soothed them down. "There, I think that's settled them for a bit." He proceeded to purchase his book (from the front window -- this seemed like extra trouble, but he suspected the shopkeeper wanted people to see that the books could be handled safely) and hurried out. The little bit of white was still plain at the back of the trash heap, though it almost looked to have nestled down a bit.

Rubeus looked around casually, but no one seemed to be paying him a bit of attention. He crouched down, picked up the egg, and was back upright and leaning against the wall in the blink of an eye. The precious egg was balanced in front of him, shielded from other view by the book. It was large, for an egg (though not quite large enough for a dragon's egg, unfortunately). The shell was vaguely leathery, off-white, and warm to the touch.

"Better get yeh back ter Hogwarts, little one. Got ter keep yeh warm so yeh'll hatch right." He was delighted to feel something in the egg _shift_ against the leathery shell and his palms. He'd have to find out just what was going to hatch out. Shouldn't be too hard; there weren't _that_ many Class A....

"_Rubeus!_"

He started. "Tom! What on earth are you doin' down here?"

"What am _I_ doing down here? Why are YOU here? You KNOW students aren't supposed to be out in this area of Hogsmeade! Do you want your visiting privileges revoked? Come on."

Ignoring the disparity in their sizes, the dark-haired fifth year latched onto the much taller third-year's arm and tugged him out of the alley, lecturing the whole time. "--and then they'll write Uncle Tavish, and Mum will ask ME why I wasn't looking after you properly. Do you really want me to have to listen to a Howler from Mum?"

"'Course not," Rubeus replied promptly, tucking the egg surreptitiously inside his robes. "It's not _your_ fault I was there, though. Still don' know why you were, mind..."

"Doing my prefectly duty and looking out for the other students," Tom replied tartly. "Though I didn't think anyone would actually go _down_ there."

"It's interestin' though," Rubeus replied wistfully.

"If you're going to do something interesting, at least make sure you don't get _caught_ at it," Tom chided. "Anyone could have seen you there. You're not exactly easy to miss."

"I can' help _that_," Rubeus protested. "I wasn' having any trouble, though."

"Well, you _could_ have. If _I_ spotted you, someone _else_ could have." Tom sighed as he tucked a small book inside his robes. "Anyway, I thought you were going to be with Weasley this trip. I thought he was too good as sticking his nose in other people's business to let you slip off."

"He's busy findin' Christmas presents for his family."

Tom blinked. "But it's only Halloween."

"Well, he's got a lot o' family."

Tom muttered something about Weasleys under his breath that made Rubeus scowl at him. "Fine. Let's just head back to where everyone _else_ is, all right?"

"Sure. What'd you get, Tom?"

"What? Nothing."

"Thought you had a book?" Rubeus petted his own purchase again.

"Oh, that. Just a book. What's yours?" Tom peered at it more closely. "Is that one of the ones that looked like it was about to start taking hostages in the window there?"

"_The Monster Book of Monsters_," Rubeus agreed happily. "They're only grumpy until yeh stroke them a bit."

Tom shook his head and chuckled a bit. "Count on you to figure that out, little brother."

"Well, what else would yeh do?"

"I am considered the biggest book lover in Slytherin," Tom returned somberly, "and even _I_ do not stroke my books."

"Well, what if they were upset?"

"I'd threaten to feed them to a bookworm."

Rubeus looked at him reproachfully.

"It works!"

"That's not nice, Tom."

"I never said I actually _did_ it. A little judicious threatening can work wonders, though."

"Well, petting these down works real good."

"I'll keep that in mind, but at least I'm comforted that no Care of Magical Creatures professor in his right _mind_ would assign those."

"Aww, they're not so hard to handle once yeh get the trick of it and they settle down." Rubeus regarded his book admiringly and felt happy about the weight of the egg in his pocket. "Can' wait to read it."

"Planning on raising any monsters soon, or are you still resting on your laurels from Gus?"

"I'm hoping to!" Rubeus glanced around and lowered his voice. "I got an egg, actually, but I'm not sure what it is yet."

"...I was being sarcastic, but I suppose I should know better around you." Tom shook his head and chuckled. "So will you let me see it?"

"Of course. Maybe get out o' the street first, though."

"Yes, I figured." Tom looked around, then headed for a small side alley. This one only offered a back entrance to a small handful of stores and a scraggly brown cat rooting through the trash. Tom took out his wand and waved it at the entrance, then grinned. "All right, we're fine as long as no one walks in. Show."

Rubeus let his book snuggle up under his arm and took out the egg, beaming as he cradled it in one large hand. "It's got to be pretty far along -- I can feel the baby move inside the shell. D'you want to hold it?"

"Sure." Tom took the egg carefully, knowing Rubeus would kill him if he so much as jostled his new pet. He examined the egg carefully and finally shook his head. "I don't know what it's from, but Care of Magical Creatures was never my forte. Still warm, though. That's a good sign. You'll want to find out what it is as soon as possible, in case it needs any unusual care in the egg."

Rubeus looked up from eager perusal of the table of contents in his new book. "Well, this has a listing of what creatures have Class A Untradable listings, so I'm lookin' to see about eggs...."

Tom stared at him. "Rubeus," he said very slowly, "if you don't know what it is, why are you starting with Class A Untradables? You wouldn't find one of _those_ just laying around!"

"Well, I... sort of did." Rubeus shifted his weight and licked a finger to turn the pages. "I was in a shop, and the shopkeeper wouldn' take it -- was expecting a raid or somethin'. And the man tryin' to sell it to him ditched it in a trash heap."

"So you decided to just pick it up? An _Untradable_?! Rubeus! You _know_ those are dangerous!"

"Well, else it might've either died or hatched out right there in the street...."

"If you were worried about _that_, you would've reported it." Tom frowned at the egg worriedly. "Rubeus, I know you're good with animals, but this isn't like Gus..."

"Look, Tom -- if it's too hard to handle I'll get it to the Forest, or to Dad, or...." He swallowed hard. "Or kill it, if I've got to. I'll be careful, yeh know I will. And it _is_ like Gus -- getting started when it's just a baby -- and most of the Untradables, at least the Class A ones, part of what worries people so much is they're _smart_."

Tom blew out a breath. "I'm not going to report you, Rubeus. I just...want to make sure you're careful with it, all right?" At least he was being practical and acknowledged that he might _have_ to kill it, if it got out of hand...and he'd always done well with animals, even the big ones. "All right. I just wish I had time to help you with him..."

"Bein' a prefect taking up all your spare time?" Rubeus asked with a grin. "Don' worry. I'll be fine. I'll want yeh to come visit sometime, though."

"Well, there's that, studying for my O.W.L.s..." Tom let his voice trail off, glad that he had the handy excuse of O.W.L.s for just about everything. "I know you'll be fine, but I'll definitely still visit."

"Good." Rubeus looked at a page and chuckled. "Well, it could _be_ an acromantula egg after all. Don' know though, there might be something else here that'd fit."

"Do _not_ tell Weasley, in that case," Tom laughed. "I doubt it's an acromantula, really. Those are really rare."

"Well it's supposed to be hard to find any of them," Rubeus reminded him, laughing as well. "Being Untradable, yeh know."

Tom rolled his eyes and grinned. "Well, we'll find out what it is soon enough, but we should probably get back to everyone else. Don't want people noticing we're missing, after all."

"Right." Rubeus tucked the egg securely back into his robes and followed his brother out of the alleyway.

Rubeus joined back up with Weasley and a few other of his housemates, leaving Tom to go off in search of some of his own friends. But after a few minutes of wandering around, he instead went and tucked himself in to a quiet table at the back of the Three Broomsticks. Reaching into his robes, he pulled out a small book called _King of Serpents_ and began to read.

*****

Tom hissed softly as he crept along the corridors, torchlight casting flickering shadows on the wall. He kept his ears cocked for an answering hiss, a slide of scales on stone, _anything_ that would tell him he was close. He _was_ close, he could feel it. After years of hearing his mother's stories, reading everything he could find on their illustrious ancestor, and more than four years searching every part of the castle he could reach, he surely _had_ to be close to finding it!

Tom's spell-enhanced hearing was nearly deafened by the footsteps of an approaching something. A very _large_ something. Tom muttered a curse (and a countercharm) as he ducked behind the statue of a glowering wizard. He'd chosen now to search because no one was supposed to _be_ in this section of the castle. He'd timed it carefully to coincide with the pranks he'd heard two Hufflepuffs planning this morning. Pringle should be kept busy for hours...

~_Please_ don't be a professor,~ Tom prayed silently as the footsteps came steadily closer. Another student he could intimidate away, but a professor meant explaning himself...  
A long shadow slid along the wall, and a soft echoing hum joined the footsteps. Tom blinked. Even with the echoes, it sounded a little familiar -- could it be --? 

And it was. Which was fortunate, since "it" also turned out to be observant enough to spot Tom. Rubeus paused, frowned at the statue, and then came over to peer more closely into the shadows. "Tom! What're yeh doing down here?"

"Oh, hello Rubeus." Tom stepped out of the shadows sheepishly. "Guess I should work on my concealment charms."

"And here I thought yeh were good at everything." Rubeus smiled and jostled Tom's shoulder lightly. "But isn' this kind of a funny place to practice?"

"I _am_ good at everything," Tom said in affront. "I just wasn't trying that one at the moment."

"All right, all right. So what were yeh doing?"

"Out for a walk?"

Rubeus's mouth quirked and he folded his arms. "Come on, Tom.... I'll tell yeh what _I_ was doing, visitin' my egg. About to hatch, I just hope I'll be able to be here when it does."

"Don't tell me about it," Tom advised with a grin. "It's only the eggs that are Untradable, so as long as I don't know about him until he's hatched, I don't have to report it."

"I didn't trade anything for it," was the rejoinder. "I suppose you weren' looking for it then?"

"No, of course not. I'd just ask you to take me."

"That's what I thought. So why _did_ yeh decide to take a walk down here?"

Tom looked around, then tugged his brother closer to the statue and cast a dome of silence around them. "You have to keep this _absolutely_ quiet, understand?"

"Of course I do. Yeh don' tell on me about the egg, do yeh?"

"I know, I just have to make _sure_. I don't think the professors would be very keen on this." Tom took a deep breath. "You remember the bedtime stories Mum used to tell us? About when Grandfather used to search the castle for," his voice dropped even lower, "the Chamber of Secrets?"

"Sure I do -- Tom, are yeh looking for it too?" Rubeus fairly bounced on his toes with excitement. "Do yeh have any good ideas? I bet the creature'd really like to get out and stretch its legs by now. Or coils, if it's a snake." He pulled a mock frown and shook his head. "I don' know about that Salazar, Tom, leaving a creature locked up for so long.... Well, maybe it's got more space than it seems like it would."

"I'm sure he took care for it, if he went to all the trouble of making the Chamber for it in the first place. But I'm sure it would like to stretch a bit and...well, I'd like to be the one who finds it again. Grandfather couldn't, nor his father or _his_ father, and who knows how many others before them?"

"What is this, a family tradition?" Rubeus shook his head. "And if it is one, how'd you lose the room in the first place?"

"It's been a thousand years, you know. The story's been passed down, but it's still so cryptic, it's hard to find. It's only the past few generations that have been looking again."

"And yeh think it might be down around here?"

"...I'm not really sure. I've been looking since my first year."

Rubeus blinked and looked a bit hurt. "Yeh never told me. Or yeh made it seem like a joke...."

Tom winced. "I'm sorry, Rubeus. It's just that I was looking on my own for two years, and it was habit to keep it quiet..."

"Well -- just tell me if yeh do find it, all right? I'd like to meet the creature -- if it won't mind me...."

"I don't think it will. I don't know. I just have to be careful, you know? Family legend is that the creature was for protection, but school legend is that it was to cleanse the school of Muggle-borns. I don't want to _hurt_ anyone." He smiled wryly. "For that matter, I'm not entirely sure what it would make of ME in that case."

"Doesn' seem like a very efficient way to do it if that's what he was after," Rubeus suggested comfortingly. "And anyhow, it _ought_ to like yeh."

"Well, I hope so. I have to _find_ it first."

"Good luck with it." Rubeus grinned. "Meantime, I'm going to go tend to my egg."

"Let me know when it hatches, all right?" Tom grinned and took down the dome of silence. "See you later, little brother. And stay out of trouble!"


	2. Aragog

_Disclaimer: This is a work of fan-fiction based on the Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling. No undue claim nor material profit is intended._

**Creatures Great and Small  
by Andrea13 and Persephone  
Chapter 2**

Tom hadn't been lying about how busy he was with studying, Quidditch, and his prefect's duties, but he managed to sneak in plenty of time for his searching. That didn't, however, leave him with a great deal of time to spend with his brother or for little things like, oh, sleep. So it took a few seconds for his brain to kick back in when Rubeus snared him on his way out of the library one night and whispered excitedly, "Aragog tol' me ter tell yeh hello."

Tom blinked a few times. "Who's Aragog?" He really thought he'd learned all the Gryffindors' names by now, in Rubeus's year at least....

Rubeus rolled his eyes good naturedly. "_Tom_! Th' egg!"

"Your egg told you to tell me hello?"

"No!" Rubeus was grinning at him now. "Don' yeh ever _sleep_ anymore, Tom? No, th' egg hatched. An' it _was_...what we thought it was." He looked around carefully. There weren't any students close, but you could never be too careful.

Tom blinked some more. The egg? They'd thought it was -- "Merlin! An--" He looked around as well. "It _was_ a...spider, then?"

"A beauty, too!" Rubeus looked rapturous. "And _smart_, jus' like I tol' yeh. He was listenin' ter me in th' egg."

"In the egg?" Tom stopped to consider this, remembering all he'd read about acromantulae. They were supposedly originally bred as guards, and bred to think intelligently. But he hadn't considered... "Your spider _talks_?"

"What? Yeh can talk to snakes, and yeh think that's weird?"

"I think most of your pets are weird. But one that speaks English is particularly unusual."

"His English ain't so good yet."

A grin tugged at the corner of Tom's mouth. "That may be your doing, Rubeus...."

"What d' yeh mean by that?"

"What do you think?" Tom shook his head. "I just hope you can persuade it not to go about eating people. Acromantulas don't generally avoid eating humans."

"He wouldn't hurt anybody!"

Tom winced. He had heard that before. There was a reason he was plotting extremely carefully how to keep the Chamber monster -- he strongly suspected it to be a basilisk -- under control when they found it. "According to his instincts, at least if he were raised by his own kind, we'd be food. It should help if he understands you when you tell him we're not."

"I won't let Aragog hurt anyone, Tom. I promise. Everyone's just scared of interesting creatures because they don't understand them!"

"Some interesting creatures," Tom said dryly, "are actually dangerous. You'll get along better keeping them if you remember that and are careful."

"I'll make sure he doesn't hurt anyone. Just don't tell anyone he's here? He's too little to be off on his own yet..."

"Too _little_? From that egg, he should be the size of both _your_ fists, and that's before you count the legs!"

"'He's still a baby!" Rubeus protested in an injured voice. 

"...All right, but still, for a spider he's huge."

"He's not a spider, he's an acromantula, and he's still a baby." Rubeus' tone firmly indicated that that was the end of discussion on the matter.

"Rubeus, I've been explaining all the advantages presented by spiders to two housemates who can't _stand_ the things for the past week because the most common spell to get rid of them would probably work on an acromantula too, at least a... relatively small one. I think. I'm not going to tell." He paused. "They're not the kind where the hairs are poisonous, are they?"

"...Not _all_ of them."

"Not all the hairs? Or which one is Aragog?"

"Not all the hairs. Just the ones at the ends of his legs. You're okay as long as 'e don't walk on you."

"Well, that's good to know. I thought it had to be something; you haven't shown up with any kind of weird rash on your hands. Except for that once from Herbology, of course. I wondered though. Haven't held an acromantula before, you know."

Rubeus' face brightened up. "D' you _want_ to? He'd love to see you!"

Tom was not nearly as enthusiastic as Rubeus about the prospect, and as matching Rubeus' enthusiasm for most of the creatures generally termed monsters was nearly impossible, he was fairly sure his brother knew this. He _was_ interested, however, if a little wary. "Well, I don't see why he'd be particularly thrilled, but I wouldn't mind being properly introduced."

"Great!" Rubeus jumped up and grabbed his older brother's hand, towing him out of the empty classroom they'd ducked into. "He'll be happy to see you, Tom, just wait. It's been a few days actually -- I couldn' ever catch you -- he's talkin' and huntin' his own food now and everything -- and he gets lonely down here all alone."

"_Shh._ No point telling me to keep quiet if you go bellowing about him." 

Rubeus' voice dropped to an exaggerated whisper as he practically carried the smaller but older boy down the hall. "I wasn't bellowing. I'm being quiet."

"Right." To be entirely fair, Rubeus seemed to be fairly good at stealth after all, and they reached a room in the dungeons apparently unobserved. Aside from the occasional ghost, of course.

"Aragog," Rubeus whispered, going to one particular cupboard in the corner and scratching on its door gently. "I brought Tom 'ere to meet you."

There was a muffled clicking sound, and the door opened slowly to permit the emergence of first one long, spidery leg, then the rest of the young Acromantula. Tom took note of the hairs at the bottom of the leg. Politely, he whispered, "Hello, Aragog."

Aragog moved one leg in what Tom decided to interpret as an acromantulan greeting. "Hello, friend of Hagrid."

There was now the question of what, precisely, one discussed with a large talking spider. 

"He's been telling me a lot about you." That should be fairly safe.

"Good. Good things?"

"Yes. He's very fond of you." Tom thought he was getting the hang of the Acromantula's tendency to click mandibles on every word. "He says you've started to do your own hunting." 

"Yes. Many mice in the basement. Small prey." Though the voice didn't hold much inflection, Tom rather thought Aragog sounded disappointed.

"Well, I don't know that there's anything much larger for you to eat in the building." 

"Many, many, much larger." Aragog eyed Tom up and down, then added regretfully, "_Too_ large. For now."

"If you mean the students," Tom began, then looked at Rubeus. He wasn't sure how Aragog was likely to react to _him_, but hopefully the acromantula would listen to Rubeus....

"Humans aren't prey, Aragog. Yeh can't hurt them, ever. When ye get a little bigger, there's lots of prey in the Forest, though."

"None of them, ever?" Aragog clicked wistfully. 

"Never," Rubeus said firmly. "If yeh do hurt them, people'll catch you and send yeh away or kill yeh. As long as yeh don't hurt anyone, it'll be fine."

"Careful, then," Aragog replied. "Will be careful." A pause. "More friends of Hagrid?"

"Right. All the other humans are his friends," Tom spoke up. "He'd be very cross if you ate any of them."

This was a slight exaggeration, but if it ever became necessary for Aragog to attack a human, presumably the exception could be explained at the time. Tom had the uncomfortable feeling that Aragog would be all too eager. "That's right," Rubeus agreed after a moment. "Yeh musn't eat them. There'll be plenty of good huntin' in the Forest, though."

Aragog clicked his mandibles twice in either agreement or resignation, but didn't argue the point any further. "When do I see the Forest?"

"When yeh get bigger," Rubeus said firmly. "Yer not big enough yet to try all of what's in there. I've seen. I'll take you there when it's time."

"'You've seen'," Tom repeated with a snort. "I swear, they're going to have to draft a whole new rule to keep students out of the Forest after the example YOU set, little brother."

"It's nice in there, really," Rubeus protested. "Yeh just got to be careful."

Tom shook his head slightly. "If you say so. I prefer keeping my explorations confined to the castle."

"Gettin' any closer to finding that chamber?" Rubeus shook his head. "Best take care -- that Slytherin was a tricky one -- 'course, so are you, at that."

"I'm sneakier," Tom assured him with a grin. "I'm almost there, I _know_ it. I'm almost SURE it's a basilisk in there. I just need to figure out exactly how to GET to it..."

"A _basilisk_? Are yeh serious?"

"It makes sense. Salazar Slytherin was a Parselmouth, remember? What better creature to put in his chamber than one HE could control but no one else could?"

"You've said yerself that just because yeh can talk to something doesn' mean it'll listen."

"I'll be careful." Tom flashed a grin. "Don't tell me _you're_ trying to talk me out of looking for a monster...." 

"Of course not," Rubeus replied indignantly. "Can't wait -- Aragog? What's wrong?" The acromantula appeared severely agitated.

"The creature!" Aragog clacked angrily, his legs shifting in agitation. "The dread creature. Friend of Hagrid should NOT seek the creature! Or Hagrid must let me GO!"

"It's not going to hurt you," Tom protested a bit irritably. He cautiously put out a hand to the hairy spider-body, hoping not to get himself bitten for the gesture. "Whatever it is, I'm not planning to let it hurt anyone." Maybe enemies. He didn't exactly have real enemies at the moment, though. Rivals, yes, but that was different.

Aragog hissed and clicked some more. "It is the creature we fear about all others!" He raised a hairy leg to push Tom's hand away, then began scuttling backwards into the cupboard. "Friend of Hagrid should not meddle with such things."

"Aragog, it's all right," Rubeus whispered. "Don't worry -- Tom can talk to it if it's a basilisk; he'll tell it to behave itself!"

Another fierce click-clattering, then Aragog disappeared into the depths of the cupboard, apparently not willing to talk to them any more.

"Well." Tom sat back on his heels and looked thoughtfully at the empty space where the baby acromantula had stood. "That was a good first meeting."

"Aragog...." Rubeus peered into the cupboard, then sighed and looked mournfully at his brother. "I didn' think it'd upset him like that."

"Well..." Tom frowned, thinking back to his basilisk book. "They're supposed to be spiders' mortal enemy, from what I read, but Aragog's an acromantula, not just a plain spider. Besides, I won't let it hurt anyone."

*****

"Tom? I haven't seen you grinning like that since yeh beat Gryffindor in th' last Quidditch match. What's up?"

"I found it, Rubeus!" Tom said excitedly, lowering his voice and looking around to make sure no one could overhear. "At least, I think I did. I have to go back and check; a Hufflepuff first year walked in and interrupted me. But I FOUND it!"

"The Chamber?!" Rubeus wasn't quite as good at keeping his voice low. It rose to an excited squeak, then he blushed and looked around to make sure no one heard. "Where is it?"

Tom grinned. "The girls' toilet on the second floor."

"Wha -- Tom!"

Tom managed to look completely innocent. "What? I'd checked just about every other room in the castle."

"Yeh shouldn' have gone in there!"

"Why not? No one was in it at the time!"

"Well I should HOPE not!" Rubeus still looked scandalized.

"I can't believe you're upset about that. You're certainly not above bending the rules when it suits you, little brother. I should be reporting you nearly every time I talk to you for your creatures. I won't even mention Aragog. But going into a girls' toilet scandalizes you? Honestly." His grin widened. "Does that mean you don't want to come along?"

"Aragog's not hurtin' anything, and no more are any of the others," Hagrid protested. "That's not -- it's -- why would Salazar have put it THERE?" 

"He made it a thousand years ago. The castle's changed a bit since then. It might've been anything then. It probably had some kind of charm on it, to adapt the entrance to whatever was put in there. They didn't have plumbing like that a thousand years ago, little brother," he pointed out with a wink.

"Still," Rubeus grumbled. 

"You expect me to give up my search just because it's in the girls' room?" Tom shook his head. "So are you coming or not? I'm sneaking out tonight."

Rubeus looked torn. "Yeh really think there's a creature in there?"

"All the legends agree. I'm almost positive it's a basilisk. And I can't believe he wouldn't have taken circumstances into account to keep it fed and healthy. I'm sure it's still there!" Tom's eyes were lit with passion, his smile anticipatory. "Can you imagine? Salazar Slytherin's basilisk. Imagine the stories it can tell!"

"We'll want to be careful -- I can' imagine it's too happy after this long, even if he did keep it healthy." 

"I know how to handle myself around snakes, Rubeus. And I trust you to handle yourself around any creature. We're probably the two people in the school best-equipped to find it."

"I still feel sorry for it." Rubeus frowned suddenly. "An' for Aragog, though -- he's still scared to death about the whole thing, he is."

"I won't let it hurt Aragog, don't worry. But the poor thing's been cooped up for a thousand years!" Tom's face grew serious. "I'll have to look into silencing charms on the roosters before I let it out, of course. And make sure it knows to keep its eyes shut."

"Yeh don' think it'll mind that, do yeh?"

"No more than Aragog minds your telling him what not to hunt," Tom said wryly.

"That's a point." Rubeus looked thoughtful. "I think I can take care o' the roosters. I've been helpin' look after the fowl sometimes lately -- yeh'll want ter keep it inside at dawn, though; keepin' them quiet when the sun comes up would be awful suspicious."

"That shouldn't be a problem. It would be best to just let it roam at night, when there aren't many people around. Just in case." Tom grinned and rubbed his hands together. "This is going to be great, Rubeus!"

"An' yeh laugh at me about my creatures..." Rubeus muttered.

"Ah, come on, you know you're looking forward to it too!"

"Well, yeah. I've never met a basilisk. Just...be careful!"

"I'm being told to be careful by a Gryffindor," Tom said gravely. "The natural order of things is out of balance."

"Yeah, well, if you're going to be the one doing crazy things, I'll tell yeh to be careful," Rubeus grumbled. 

"I'm going to be. Honestly. I'm fascinated, not stupid."

"Well, yeh're a Slytherin. It's hard to tell the difference sometimes." Rubeus grinned. "So we're doing this tonight?"

Tom cuffed at him, missing deliberately despite the fact that he'd have had a hard time landing a blow that would actually faze his brother. "That's right." He grinned suddenly. "And another advantage to its being after hours -- there really shouldn't be any girls in there to worry about."

*****


	3. The Chamber of Secrets

_Disclaimer: This is a work of fan-fiction based on the Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling. No undue claim nor material profit is intended._

**Creatures Great and Small  
by Andrea13 and Persephone  
Chapter 3**

"How'd yeh even FIND that?" Rubeus hissed. Even though he was _trying_ to be quiet, his voice echoed in the empty loo. 

Tom grinned at him and pointed at the tap, where a small snake was etched into the metal. "Just sharp eyes." He turned back to the tap and whispered, "Open." To Rubeus, it sounded like nothing more than snake's hissing.

There was a blaze of silver-white light -- Rubeus squinted -- and then the sink... well, sank. Into the floor. Behind it was a hole -- too big for any reasonable plumbing, big enough in fact that even Rubeus would be able to get into it. Barely.

"Wow...Looks like yeh were right, Tom." He was practically bouncing in excitement. "Let's go!"

"Wait a minute." Tom reached into his pocket and pulled out a scarf. "Keep this handy. If you hear the basilisk, put it over your eyes. Or shut them. Both, preferably. Until I make sure it's clear." He looked down the hole. "Let's go."

Tom stepped into the hole first. It was logical, since he was, after all, the one who could talk to the creature. Even in the excitement, though, it was nice to have Rubeus with him. As long as he kept safe, of course. 

The pipe was very slippery. Not slime, exactly -- at least, Tom tried not to think it was slime -- but it let them slide rapidly down until they emerged in a stone chamber. Tom fell onto his hands and knees, then hastily got out of the way in case Rubeus wasn't braking any better than he had.

Apparently he wasn't. Rubeus landed with a crash in the space Tom had just vacated. He didn't lose his grin the whole time. "That was great!"

Tom shook his head and laughed. "That's my little brother. Now stay behind me."

The main thing this would actually accomplish was to give them both a good view. Rubeus, nevertheless, chuckled a bit breathlessly and followed. "D'ya think this is really it?"

"It could be..." Tom looked all around. The Chamber was very dark, even with both their wands providing light. "Is this _it_?" he whispered in disappointment. Where was the _basilisk_? "It looks like there's more this way. Come on."

The boys walked through empty tunnels for long enough that Tom was starting to get anxious. He started to wonder if they'd come the wrong way...until they came across a large door carved with serpents. "Open," he hissed at it, grinning at Rubeus when it quietly slid open.   
They emerged into a large chamber, ringed with a series of tall columns carved with even more serpents. At the opposite end was a large statue of a man. Salazar Slytherin himself? 

"This _has_ to be the Chamber," Tom said excitedly. _This_ was more like it. But if this was the Chamber of Secrets, where was the basilisk? He switched to Parseltongue and called out, "Is anything out there?"

For a moment he thought he heard a soft noise that might have been the scrape of scales on stone... then nothing more. Except for Rubeus' footsteps moving quietly a bit off to the side. Tom turned sharply. "What're you doing?"

"Thought I saw -- here it is." Rubeus crouched and extended his wand over something; Tom came to look and saw that it was a shed skin.

A very large one.

It was a bright, poisonous green, easily twenty feet long. "I was _right_," Tom whispered in growing excitement. "It _has_ to be a basilisk. But where IS it?"

He paced restlessly around the chamber, holding his wand up high to investigate the walls. No more carved snakes. In fact, the only carving in the entire place was the statue...that had to be it, didn't it? "Open," he hissed in Parseltongue. 

It didn't move.

"What did yeh say to it, Tom?"

"'Open,'" Tom replied absently in English. "Obviously that wasn't it, though -- at least, nothing's happened that I could see." 

"From all yeh and Aunt Mary say, wouldn' he have been embarrassed ter make it that simple, even for a Parselmouth?" Rubeus shifted a little uneasily under the stony gaze. "Maybe yeh should be more polite. I can' imagine any of the Hogwarts Four would take kindly to being ordered about, even as statues."

Tom grinned at him. "We'll turn you into a Slytherin yet, little brother. Should I just say please? Hmm...." He studied the statue some more, then shifted back to Parseltongue. "Please open? Excuse me, Mr. Slytherin, would you mind moving aside so I could meet your basilisk?"

Unsurprisingly, nothing happened.

Rubeus snorted under his breath at the idea of being turned into a Slytherin, despite their location, and started slowly prowling the walls. Tom noticed after a moment's discontented staring at the statue that Rubeus had taken on that peculiar air that tended to attract dangerous beasts to investigate him, but not eat him. Teethe on him, occasionally. It was a sort of fond, inquisitive, utterly fearless respect remarkably similar to the attitude with which his mother approached deadly flora.

"Think yeh should speak ter the basilisk too? Respectful's all well and good, but it ought ter really _be_ here...."

"I thought I heard something earlier, but it hasn't said anything yet." Tom tried a few more polite phrases to the statue, but it remained remarkably unmoved even by "pretty please". It couldn't hurt to try the basilisk again. He raised his voice again, trying to project _behind_ the statue. "Basilisk? Are you back there? I'm a friend. I'd like to give you a chance to stretch your, er, coils."

Straining his ears, Tom thought he heard another soft noise. He glanced at Rubeus, who had perked up as well -- he'd heard it too! "Did you --"

"Yes." Rubeus looked thoughtful. "At least it's got a _little_ room to move in there, sounds like...."

"I KNEW there'd be something here!" Tom was practically bouncing in glee, which would be very disturbing for anyone who knew him to see. "I'd really like to let you out," he called again to the basilisk, "but I'm not sure how to get through!"

There was another noise, one that smacked of restless motion. Rubeus had forgotten to be wary of a statue Salazar Slytherin had presumably built and might have booby-trapped; he was standing right at the statue's feet and listening hard. "P'rhaps yeh have ter say you're family, Tom," he speculated. "It'd make sense, wouldn' it? I mean, there's other Parselmouths, if not many of them."

"I'll try that if you'll move _away_ from the statue. _You're_ not family, so you don't know what it might do to you," Tom said testily. "You're supposed to be careful, remember?"

Rubeus shot him a slightly hurt look, though he did know perfectly well that step-brother probably didn't count for much in old Slytherin's eyes. "I was just listenin'," he muttered as he backed off to the other wall again.

"Thank you." He eyed the statue and tried to think of how best to present his case. "Great Slytherin, I am your Heir and I have come to claim your Chamber!" Nothing. Well, maybe that was a little pompous...

...He thought he heard serpentine laughter, very faintly.

Rubeus' eyebrows shot up. "Well, unless I'm hearing things, whatever yeh just said got some kind of answer..."

"It was laughing at me," Tom muttered, his ears turning red. "A little help here, Ancestor? Speak to me, Slytherin!"

Unless he was imagining things, now the _statue_ looked amused. At least, that might be a smile -- had the stone lips parted slightly? "I think it opened a little!" he exclaimed, holding his wand up over his head and trying to see better.

"Well? What did yeh say?"

"I asked him for help...that doesn't seem like his style. I said..." Shifting to Parseltongue, he repeated, "Speak to me, Slytherin!"

Dust stirred on the statue this time. It was definitely working, but...not _enough_.

"I heard _that_," Rubeus muttered, "I was hopin' yeh'd translate. What does seem like his style?" He was drifting closer again, and halted with a sigh at an alarmed look from Tom.   
"I said, 'Speak to me, Slytherin' and it seemed to get a response. I don't know...the stories just didn't make him seem like the kind of person who'd want you asking for _help_. He'd want you to figure it out on your own...But obviously you're supposed to say _something _to the statue!"

He sighed and hissed again, "Speak to me, Slytherin...and let your Heir pass!"

This time there was a definite answering hiss -- and it seemed to come from the statue, though it was the same as the laughter, but higher up.... "Ssstill not quite right."

"It's TALKING to me!" Tom exclaimed to Rubeus. Then back to Parseltongue for, "I'm trying my best, you know. I don't suppose you could tell me what it is, then?"

"You'll let me out, if I do?" Must be the basilisk, then, not the statue. It sounded hopeful.

"Of course! That's why I'm down here. I wanted to meet you, and give you a chance to get out of there for a while." Tom considered for a moment, then added, "Er, you might want to close your eyes, though. I won't do you much good if I'm dead."

"I know not to look ssstraight at humansss. Sssalazar told me when I wass ssstill an egg." The hiss was dismissive. "Isss the ssschool in danger?"

"Just checking." Tom quelled his surge of elation. He was talking to a basilisk! One that KNEW Salazar Slytherin!! "No, the school isn't in danger. I just thought you must be getting tired of being in there.... My brother and I just wanted to meet you. Will you tell me how to get past the statue?"

"Has it not been told you by your family?"

"Even the Chamber itself has become a legend. It's been a thousand years since Salazar Slytherin lived."

"Has it really? No wonder I wasss getting bored." There was a pause. "You do not passsss the ssstatue."

"What do I do, then?"

"Ssso that it will let me, sssay, 'Ssspeak to me, Ssslytherin, greatessst of the Hogwartsss Four."

Tom took a deep breath, looked at the statue, and said firmly, "Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four!"

There was a rumbling sound. Rubeus jumped up and shouted, "Yeh DID it, Tom!"

"The basilisk did," Tom corrected, grinning, watching as the statue rumbled open. "Remember, don't look at it in the eyes."

"I know that!" Rubeus was smiling too, though, and trying hard not to look straight at the statue's mouth as the serpent began to emerge, looking initially like a rather unhealthy tongue.

"Oh wow," Tom muttered under his breath, grinning. "I'm very pleased to meet you," he hissed to it.

"And I the sssame," it replied, moving gracefully across the floor -- eyes safely covered by the lids it conveniently possessed in defiance of the usual custom among serpents. It raised its head far enough to flick its tongue in his face, then turned and did the same in Rubeus' general direction. "Your brother, you sssay? He tassstes of giant."

"He's my step-brother," Tom explained. Rubeus was grinning ear-to-ear, as if there was nothing more exciting than being licked by a gigantic serpent. "His mother was a giantess. His father married my mother."

"What's it sayin', Tom?"

"It --" Tom glanced up at the head -- no crest -- and amended, "She asked about you. I was explaining about our family."

"She's not goin' ter decide ter eat me because I'm not Slytherin's Heir, is she?"

"I don't think so. Since when have you ever been worried about 'interesting creatures' eating you?"

"Well, most of them aren' under orders of a wizard from a thousand years back, are they? 'Specially not one who seems to have been pretty possessive. Thought I'd ask." Having discovered via sidelong glances that looking was perfectly safe, Rubeus was now gazing enraptured at the basilisk, never mind whether she might think he was a midnight snack or not.

"She seems pretty nice. As long as she doesn't think you're a danger to the school, I don't think she'll hurt you." He looked back to the serpent. "Is there anything I can get you? I know you've been stuck back there for a long time."

"I have had food and ressst... too much, perhapsss. It is nice to be out for a bit." Tom got the distinct feeling she had just smiled at him. "If you have the time, talk to me, pet my ssscales. I was used to humansss, before."

"I'd be honored to talk to you. I've never spoken to anyone who knew Salazar Slytherin before..." Tom crossed over somewhat trepidatiously and laid a hand on the cool scales. "She wants us to pet her, Rubeus."

The basilisk laughed again. "I sssshould think not, unlesss it was one of the ghostsss, and even they fade sssometimes. Go home, it's sssaid. But humansss do not live so long, and even I had to be charmed for it."

Rubeus grinned happily. "Well, that's friendly, isn' it?" He rubbed a hand along the side of her head; the basilisk leaned into it. 

"Sso what are your Housess?"

"She wants to know what our Houses are," Tom translated to his brother, then returned to Parseltongue. "I'm in Slytherin, of course. My brother, to my eternal shame, followed his father into Gryffindor. I still put up with him, though."

"Ah, it'sss not ssso bad. Godric would ssscratch above my eyesss, too, once he got usssed to me. I liked him. But he ssshould have been lessss stubborn; Sssalazar would have ssstayed."

"Wait, you knew Godric Gryffindor? I thought that the Chamber was supposed to be a secret from the other Founders."

"It was. I wassn't."

"Oh." Tom blinked and tried to sort through all of this. He'd already thought up questions to ask...He shook himself enough to tell Rubeus, "She said Gryffindor used to scratch above her eyes. I think it's a hint."

"She knew him?" Rubeus asked, rather startled. He emulated his House's Founder quite willingly. 

"That's what she said. The Chamber was a secret, but she wasn't." He shrugged and flipped through his questions in his head. "Why did Slytherin really leave, then? It's been so long, all we have are stories..."

"They argued." The hiss was sad. "Not the first time, but before, they never went so far." 

"How far did they go? What happened?" Tom whispered, a thrill coursing through him. He was probably the first person to know the truth about this since...the Founders themselves!

"Far enough not to make up. I don't know it all; they didn't argue in front of me. But it was about what students to take, and what was safe and what was fair, and Salazar was very angry when he left. But he didn't want to go, I could tell."

"Why didn't he take you when he left?"

"And leave his studentss unprotected?" She sounded offended. 

"Well, not to be rude, but how much help could you have been from behind a statue?" 

"In an emergency, I would have been releassed. If an enemy penetrated Hogwarts itself, I would kill them."

"Well...I hope you wouldn't mind if Rubeus and I came down to talk to you every now and then. We won't keep you from anything you have to do, but Hogwarts is pretty safe nowadays." 

"This is good. And I would be very glad to have you visit. You can tell me what is going on now, and I will tell you stories about your ancestor. I don't mind guarding the school, but I have missed humans."

"She said she'll tell us stories about Slytherin if we come visit her and tell her about life now," Tom reported to Rubeus, who was still diligently scratching above her eyes. "Anything you want me to ask her?"

"Why'd he keep her down here and if she likes it?" Rubeus suggested.

"Okay..." He switched back to Parseltongue. This was starting to get confusing. He was going to start hissing at Rubeus in a minute. "My brother wants to know why Salazar kept you down here instead of, you know, up in the castle."

"Becaussse here I don't have to keep my eyess closed all the time," the basilisk replied, the hissing sounding slightly amused. "And the Chamber isss sound-proof. Helga kept chickensss."

"She says," Tom translated, trying not to laugh, "that it was so she could open her eyes sometimes and couldn't hear Helga's chickens." He added to the basilisk, "There are chickens here now, but we were thinking if you wanted to come out we could put silencing charms on the roosters."

"That would be good. I would like the chance to ssstretch again." She stretched her head into the air, pressing into Rubeus' fingers. "And hunt. I am glad you came, Salazar's Heir."

Tom hesitated. "What is it you want to hunt, exactly? Because there are... pets you'd need to avoid." The Forbidden Forest, though, surely there were things she could eat there....

"Anything but ratssss," she hissed in distaste. "They are all that comes down here. Tell me what I cannot hunt. I am used to avoiding petssss."

"Mostly cats and toads... and owls, but I doubt those would be in your way as much." Tom paused. "And... anything with Rubeus' smell on it, or anything in the pens outside."

There was another hissing laugh. "I know to avoid livessstock as well. Rubeus -- your brother? He has unusual pets then?"

Tom gave Rubeus a fond smile. "Yeah. He loves animals. And they all seem to like him. Even the ones that don't like anyone. Erm, there's a Forest on the grounds. You can hunt just about anything in there."

"Except for the centaursss, yes." The basilisk flicked her tongue at Rubeus in what seemed to be an approving gesture. "I can see why they like him. He isn't skittish or rough."

"She approves of you," Tom informed his brother with a grin, then hissed, "Thank you, on his behalf. He was very excited about meeting you."

Rubeus beamed, then looked a bit worried. "Do yeh think yeh could ask her not ter scare Aragog any more than she can help?"

"She wasn't really _trying_ to scare Aragog. He was scared just about her being _around_," Tom sighed, then turned back to the basilisk. "His current pet is a young acromantula, that was very worried when we said we thought there was a basilisk on the grounds. He wanted me to ask you not to hurt it."

"I wasn' blaming her, I'd just like if she could be nice...."

Rubeus trailed off as the basilisk arched her neck for a moment with a wordless hiss, followed by, "Acromantulae are dangerous, Salazar's Heir. Their venom is as deadly as mine, they are intelligent, and humans are prey to them."

"Rubeus has a way with animals. He's raised this one from an egg. It knows not to hurt humans. I've talked to it lots of times."

"Are you certain?"

"I'm certain I've talked to it, yes. And I trust Rubeus. Like you said, they ARE intelligent. He's told me he won't attack humans for Rubeus' sake, and I believe him." He paused, then added, "He was _really _nervous when he heard about you."

"As well he should be." The basilisk hissed to herself for a moment, but finally said, "I will not harm the acromantula unless he does harm first."

"Thank you." Tom relayed that information on to Rubeus, adding, "She _really_ doesn't seem happy about it, but I told her Aragog won't hurt humans. You'd better make sure he remembers that. All the same...I don't think they should really be around each other much."

"Aragog wouldn' hurt anybody," Rubeus replied emphatically. 

"That's what I told her. Oh, that reminds me..." Tom turned back to the basilisk and asked earnestly, "May I ask your name? It seems rude to just refer to you as 'her' and 'she' all the time."

"Sharessa." The basilisk nudged against his hand, reminding him to pet her. "What is yours, Salazar's Heir?"

Tom rubbed his hand across the top of her head. "My name is Tom Riddle. My brother is Rubeus Hagrid." He nudged Rubeus in the ribs. "Her name's Sharessa. Say hello."

"Hello, Sharessa," Rubeus said dutifully. "It's nice to meet you." 

Sharessa gave a hiss under his hands that almost sounded like a purr. Tom laughed at the look on Rubeus' face. "She says it's nice to meet you too. I think she likes you, little brother. Honestly, can't you leave me just _one_ 'interesting creature' that likes me best?" Scratching Sharessa's scales, the yawn took him by surprise.

"Of course she'll like yeh best, Tom. I can' talk to her, can I?" Rubeus yawned as well, thus prompted. "Well, not her language, or so as I can understand as well if she answers." 

Sharessa flicked her tongue in the boys' direction again. "Tired, Salazar's Heir?"

Tom blushed a little. "Well, it IS the middle of the night. We had to sneak down."

"You should sssleep." She had gathered herself close to them, for easy reach, and now loops of coil snagged each boy in what seemed to be a sort of hug. "Sssalazar would not have wanted his sstudents too tired -- or asleep in classses. But come back, if you can."

"Was that a hug?" Rubeus whispered. "Basilisks aren't constrictors, are they?"

Tom smothered a laugh, and another yawn. "Yes, that was a hug." He reached forward to scritch just above Sharessa's eyes once more. "We'll definitely come back. Thank you for talking to us."

"Of course." Sharessa snugged against them again, more of a nudge this time. "You should go." That not-quite-staccato hiss that served as laughter. "Try not to get caught."

Tom looked offended. "Caught? Me? Please!" He took his brother's arm. "Come on, little brother. We'd better go."

"Um, Tom?" Rubeus asked hesitantly as they neared the pipe tunnel that had served as their entrance, Sharessa slithering beside them. "How're we going to get out? We slid _down_ the pipe; I don' think we can slide back _up_..."

"Um...." Tom was eyeing the hole and hastily evaluating his skill at levitation spells when Sharessa nudged him again, under the elbow.

"Need a pusssh?"

"Oh. That would be great, thanks." He looked over to Rubeus and switched back to English. He really hoped he wasn't going to start switching into Parseltongue in the middle of class or something now. "Sharessa's going to give us a lift. Brace yourself."

Rubeus blinked. Then Sharessa prodded Tom into the mouth of the pipe and started shoving him up it with the top of her head, working her way up with no apparent concern for the limited traction. Tom climbed out the end of the pipe and watched a bit worriedly as the basilisk slid backwards down to the Chamber to send Rubeus up, but the other boy emerged quite safely after a slightly longer delay.

Rubeus was grinning broadly. "I want ter to that again!"

Tom laughed and moved over to scratch Sharessa once more. "Thanks. We'll be down again soon."

She nudged his hand affectionately, then slithered back down the pipe, leaving him to close the opening behind her. It turned out, fortunately, that a Parseltongue "Close" had the effect of pulling the sink soundlessly back up to conceal the entrance. "All right. We'd better be careful, here...."

"Right. Don' want ter run inta Pringle..." Rubeus poked his head out the door. "Looks like the coast is clear."

"All right. Let's go." 

They crept through the hallways, Tom feeling eyes boring into his neck with every step. Of course, the portraits would never tell on him. He'd made sure to make friends with them during his first year. But everyone knew Pringle knew the castle like no other and could sneak up on unwary students. He was starting to relax when they finally reached the point where they'd separate to get to their own dormitories. "I'll see you tomorrow, Rubeus," he whispered. "Remember, don't tell _anyone_."

"I won', Tom."

"Oh, but _I _might," an amused voice interjected.

_Dumbledore_. Oh, Merlin, they'd been caught by the Head of Gryffindor! Tom turned slowly and looked up at the Transfiguration Professor, who had almost definitely not been visible thirty seconds ago. "Professor Dumbledore." He swallowed. "I'm sorry, sir -- I realize it's late, but... well, being in different Houses, Rubeus and I don't really get to see each other as much, and...." He chose this point to trail off.

"Ah, so it was merely fraternal affection which drove you to breaking the school rules," Dumbledore replied, nodding his head. "That, of course, negates all such rules. I should merely wish you a pleasant evening, then?"

"That would be nice..." Rubeus mumbled.

"Well, no, but we were hoping that in the spirit of inter-House cooperation and so on and since we aren't doing anything alarming, you'd be more lenient than if we'd been getting dragged inside from the grounds or some such." 

He didn't have to mention that the last students dragged in from the grounds had been sneaking dungbombs into the manure piles for Herbology. The whole thing was more straightforward than he liked, but then, he was talking to a very perceptive Gryffindor, and they _were_ caught red-handed, so being straightforward was probably best.

"Hogwarts has high standards for its prefects, Mr. Riddle. Or at least Gryffindor ones. Perhaps I should speak with the head of your House about such problems."

"If you see fit, sir." Not that he could give his own head-of-House a better explanation than he could offer Dumbledore. He sighed. Almost anyone would believe him if he said he'd been trying to get his brother in quietly after an illicit excursion in search of "interesting creatures," but Tom didn't quite like the idea -- for one thing it was too close to the truth, except that this had been HIS interesting creature, and for another... he didn't want to just put it off on Rubeus, even if it probably wouldn't really do him any harm considering how often he'd been reprimanded for similar things before! Anyway, Rubeus would be hurt, and probably wouldn't like trying to mislead Dumbledore any more elaborately than by omission....

"Don' blame Tom, sir," Rubeus spoke up. He looked at Tom uncomfortably. "It's jus', you know, with Tom studyin' fer his OWLs...." His voice trailed off. He couldn't quite manage to lie to Dumbledore, even if he could hardly tell him that they'd just come from talking to Slytherin's pet basilisk. "We're awfully sorry, sir."

"Sorry you broke the rules or sorry you got caught?" the professor asked whimsically. "Well, keeping you up won't un-break the rules. You'd best get back to your dormitories." Before the boys could relax too much, he added with a twinkle in his eyes, "I'll speak to you in the morning about your punishments."

"Yes, sir." Oh, as if they were going to get much sleep now.... Tom stifled a yawn as Dumbledore turned away. All right, maybe they were. 

Nobody could look that amused unless they were at least going to embarrass you horribly.

*****


	4. Detention

_Disclaimer: This is a work of fan-fiction based on the Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling. No undue claim nor material profit is intended._

**Creatures Great and Small  
by Andrea13 and Persephone  
Chapter 4**

Tom sighed resignedly when he unfolded the note at breakfast. Looking over at the Gryffindor table, he traded a look with Rubeus, holding the same note in his over-sized hand. "What's that you've got there, Tom?" one of his yearmates asked.

"Detention notice," he replied glumly. "Tonight, at dinner."

Everyone in earshot blinked. "YOU got detention?"

Tom coughed slightly and took a sip of pumpkin juice. "Visiting Rubeus last night. Dumbledore caught us."

"_Gryffindors_. I'd've thought _you'd_ be more careful, but maybe with him...."

Tom eyed the speaker, who raised a defensive hand. "Don't give me that look! I just meant with two people, twice as much noise, eh?"

Tom wasn't so sure about that, but he just shrugged and let it go. "Just a bit of bad luck. At least Dumbledore can't give me anything TOO bad just because I'm a Slytherin, not with Rubeus sharing it with me. I wonder what he'll have us do..."

"It's Dumbledore. It will," their supposedly budding Seer predicted almost gravely, "be really, really strange."

"Too true." Tom sighed and poked despondently at the note. "I'll live. I think."

"Don't look so glum. I know it destroys your perfect record, but one detention's not the end of the world," Gerald said comfortingly through a mouthful of toast. "I should know, I've had enough."

"Hmph. Slytherins aren't supposed to get caught."

"Sometimes it's worth it." 

"Uh-huh. We'll blame you if we lose the Cup, then."

"Please, who are we going to lose to? Gryffindor?"

"There's no point taking unnecessary risks." Which, Tom supposed, probably sounded rather hypocritical of him, but he was saved from further discussion by the necessity of hurrying to class.

A particularly complicated Potion occupied most of his attention for the rest of the morning, but Dumbledore's detention kept springing to his mind. WHAT did the old man have in mind for him? Dumbledore was notoriously fair, but Heads of Houses always favored their own students a LITTLE. And a detention Rubeus would not find too taxing could be death-defying for HIM.  
Tom would never admit to the butterflies that flew around in his stomach when he met up with his brother outside of Dumbledore's office that evening. They'd been permitted to eat quickly themselves, but the rest of the school was still gathered in the Hall. Tom glumly wished he could be with them, then took a deep breath and knocked.

The door popped open with Dumbledore on the other side of it. "Ah, there you are. Come in for a moment, and then we'll be off. Lemon drop?" 

Tom blinked. "Ah...thank you, sir." There was something deeply disturbing about being offered candy upon arriving for detention. "Does he always do this?" he hissed quietly to Rubeus when Dumbledore turned around.

"Do what?" 

"Offer sweets when you're supposed to be being punished?"

"Oh. Well, most other times, too," Rubeus whispered back. "Anyway, we haven't got to the detention yet." 

Tom decided in that moment, fervently and definitely, that Gryffindors were WEIRD.

Dumbledore smiled at both of them in a vaguely amused and slightly paternal way as they seated themselves in chairs across from his desk, Tom gingerly and Rubeus with the air of long-familiarity. Tom had to physically restrain himself from going to investigate some of the interesting-looking gadgets scattered around the room. "Well, boys, since you mentioned to me last night that you don't often get the opportunity to see each other outside of meals, I thought I would give you the chance today. You'll therefore be serving your detentions together. In fact, we all will." Dumbledore's expression suggested this would be a great treat. 

Tom wondered anew just what would be so interesting for Rubeus and presumably horrible though hopefully non-fatal to HIM.

"What'll we be doin', Sir?" Rubeus asked, apparently taking this to be a sort of cue.

"We will be... cleaning." Dumbledore announced this with an air of great enjoyment. "Due to the uses to which the area in question has been devoted, the elves and the caretaker were requested to let it alone, and the request was never rescinded, so I'm afraid it's a bit of a mess at the moment."

"And which area would that be, sir?" Tom asked politely, wracking his brain for what "uses" would prevent house elves and Pringle from cleaning an area....

Dumbledore simply smiled, his eyes twinkling, stood, and said, "Follow me."

They did. For what seemed like an absurdly long time. Tom concluded after two staircases up, three down, and one that changed direction until he was ready to swear they were following a _sideways_ spiral tunnel, that whoever had arranged this location apparently shared Dumbledore's sense of humor. Perhaps this was the Gryffindor equivalent to the Chamber, though in that case it seemed absurd to take _him_ there. (Even if he had taken Rubeus.) Perhaps it was....

...coated in ashes and unidentifiable gunk and the smell of fire.

"This _definitely_ needs cleaning," Tom muttered, wondering why in Merlin's name this had been left for so long. He tried to breathe just through his mouth. "Er... where do we start?"

"Hmm... I'd advise with the floor. It may require a quick going-over at the end as well, but it's preferable not to stick to it."

"Right...." Tom pulled out his wand and started trying to think of a good scouring spell.  
Rubeus eyed the ash-covered floor and half-raised his hand in the air. "Professor? Where ARE we?"

"The castle furnaces, Mr. Hagrid. Well, some of them."

Rubeus crouched down and studied the ashes and the odd dark-red residue in which some were embedded. "Has there been a dragon in here, Professor?"

"If anyone has been raising a dragon in this castle, it has been without my knowledge," Dumbledore replied, drawing a chair in mid-air that solidified as he sat down. "There was, however, a rather nasty incursion of Ashwinders. We managed to track down all of the eggs, but only after a number of them had already ignited."

Tom looked up sharply. Ashwinder eggs that actually got to the point of ignition didn't always lead to another Ashwinder, but they _could_, and when they did the new one was more likely to be able to bide its time.... 

He bit his tongue before he could try to call to them. If Dumbledore and (presumably) the other professors had been over this room looking for eggs, they'd presumably looked over it with a fine-toothed comb. Any remaining snakes would be well-hidden, he imagined. Tom muttered a spell under his breath, ashes starting to rise in the air and shift, making a private resolution to find his way back here and check, just in case.

Some of the stuck-down ones refused to move until he added a second cleaning charm, whereupon the dark red gunk, to his shock, _ignited_. Rather surprisingly, it burned down before he could extinguish it and left what appeared to be a nice, shiny, clean spot of dark blue on the floor. 

"Heh. Maybe we should burn it all away," he grinned, kneeling down to poke at the oddly-colored floor. He nearly fell over when he spotted figures moving beneath.

Rubeus came over to look while Tom was still staring. "What's -- oh." He raised a thunderstruck face to Dumbledore. "Sir? The furnaces are over the _Great Hall_?"

"You never realized?" 

That, Tom thought, was hardly fair. Why _should_ they have realized? But Rubeus was gazing, not through the floor, but _at_ it, with an enraptured expression. "Never thought about what the spells'd look like from the back...."

"It's really a quite interesting enchantment, isn't it? I'll be happy when it's cleaned off again. This is a fascinating place to sit and think."

And, what, pretend you were sitting above the sky? Or possibly upside down? Tom wondered if the ceiling was as translucent from below as above... after all, if it had always been covered with ashes, or empty, they wouldn't have been able to see much....

...Which meant all his classmates down there at the Slytherin table could see him right now. 

As well as the rest of the school -- including those goody-good Gryffindors, probably having a good laugh at Slytherin's finest on his knees doing the scrubbing. Tom scrambled to his feet quickly and repeated his spell to clear the ashes, wondering if an accidental misfire causing the room to be filled with smoke would obscure things from below....

"You really might want to be more careful," Dumbledore said mildly. "The room _has_ been used for alchemy."

Rubeus looked at his wand and swallowed hard. "Maybe I should... do it by hand. Don't want ter mess it up."

"You won't, little brother," Tom reassured him. He stepped over to tap Rubeus' wand up into the proper position. "You've seen me, go on. You can do it."

"I don' know...." 

"Now, if only you spent your available time together practicing charms rather than wandering around the castle at night," Dumbledore remarked brightly. "Really, I'm almost surprised neither of you showed signs of leaves."

"Er... leaves, sir?" Tom asked in confusion.

"Well, I have reason to believe that most of the times your brother has been out after hours, it has been in the Forbidden Forest in search of 'interesting creatures,' as he terms them. In this case, of course, any such creature would have had to be within the castle...."

Tom nearly stopped breathing.

"Mr. Hagrid, you _haven't_ been raising a dragon within the walls, have you?"

"No, Sir!" Rubeus said stoutly. "That's not to say I wouldn' _like_ one, though...."

"Rubeus, shut UP," Tom hissed.

Rubeus looked hurt. "Well, I _would_. Wouldn't raise it here though, o' course. Got too many classes and things ter be feedin' it every half hour like yer supposed to."

"I'm very glad to know you're aware of the responsibilities involved," Dumbledore said, sounding rather amused. 

"If yeh're going ta take care of a creature, yeh do it right. They're dependent on you. Dad wouldn't have let me have any pets if I didn' treat 'em right." Rubeus jutted his chin out stubbornly and for a brief moment -- despite wild differences in parentage, size, and just about everything else -- looked remarkably like Tom Riddle.

"An excellent attitude, though given your taste in pets I'd add ensuring that they're prevented from injuring anyone else."

"Well, that's part of treatin' 'em right, isn' it? Teach 'em not ter hurt anybody, least as much as they can understand it."

"A very mature sentiment," Dumbledore applauded, then raised an eyebrow at Tom. "You're being remarkably silent, Mr. Riddle. Don't you agree?"

Tom swallowed. This was starting to get uncomfortably close to topics he'd rather avoid. "Ah, I don't exactly share Rubeus' taste in pets, so I don't really have a chance to exercise it in practice, but I agree in theory."

"Well, I suppose that's fair enough, as it appears he accumulates enough of them for nearly any other two boys I can think of on his own. Might I ask what type of pet you would prefer yourself?" The tone was entirely one of good-humored, polite interest.

Tom pulled out the charming smile that had never failed him on anyone, male or female. "I'm a Slytherin, sir. I'd prefer a snake, of course."

"Well, it did still seem a fair question. While I will note a certain prevalence of cats, I don't believe I've spotted any genuine lions in the dormitories."

"Really, sir, I know this is meant to be punishment, but it's a little much to compare me to _Gryffindors_!"

To his surprise, Dumbledore laughed. "House pride is always a good thing, Mr. Riddle. And certainly none could doubt yours." His amused gaze flicked to Rubeus.

Tom coughed, blushed, and applied himself to the ashes again.

"Peppermint?" Dumbledore offered. 

There he went with the sweets again! Maybe he'd incorporated some sort of potion.... "Er... thank you." Tom took a peppermint, wondering if it would be cowardly to watch Rubeus for effects first. Probably. He shrugged and ate it.

Rubeus was still on his knees, clearing off more of the ashes by hand and scrubbing the clear spot. "Sir, can they see us down there?"

"Have you ever seen anyone up here during meals?"

"Well, no sir, but there's ash everywhere.... Er, I suppose that would make it look overcast, wouldn't it?"

"Most likely."

Rubeus realized that Dumbledore had not really answered him and didn't seem very likely to. He sighed softly (for him; a minor gale for anyone else) and waved his wand in the air again. Unfortunately, he inhaled ashes just as he tried to speak the charm, and ended up igniting half the room instead.

Tom yelped an extinguishing charm at the same time Dumbledore said it (significantly more calmly), then knelt and quickly scooped up an ash-gray ripple at his feet that turned out unexpectedly to be nearly as long as _Rubeus_ was tall. It eyed him annoyedly. The Ashwinder flicked out its tongue at Tom's nose and hissed in annoyance. "Is it not enough that you had to come tromping in here and wake me up? Did you have to stop it when it was finally getting _warm_ again?"

"Erm, sorry. It's just that we're all in the room too, and we don't deal as well with getting burned as you do. I'm sorry we disturbed you."

"Well, I see you found a serpent after all," Dumbledore said mildly. 

Rubeus, having stopped coughing, came over rather sheepishly to see it, careful not to tread on its tail. "Sorry 'bout that, Tom. How'd you even spot him in all this? Pretty fellow."

"He was the only ash that _moved_," Tom pointed out dryly. "I wasn't actually trying to find one, Professor, but..."

"Well, he does seem to have been nearly on top of your toes."

"Yes. Hmm." Tom hefted the serpent in the air and wondered what he was supposed to do now. Rubeus had more experience asking for pets, and "Can I keep him?" seemed awfully juvenile. Not to mention he'd have to do something about the possibility of eggs so he didn't burn the castle down.... Or however much was flammable.... Well, and he should probably ask _it_ what it thought....

"Tom," Rubeus asked worriedly and in a low voice, "don' they live for only an hour once they've had an egg?"

"He's still pretty warm. I don't think he would've laid eggs yet. Er, it, I mean," Tom corrected himself, since Ashwinders were, after all, asexual. "She" might be more accurate since they were all capable of laying eggs, but "it" was the accepted term. "There's a pretty easy way to tell."

He looked back at the snake, which was squirming a remarkably little amount and hissed at it, "Hello. I'm sorry for grabbing you like this; I just didn't want my brother to step on you while we're cleaning."

"Well, fine. Stop dangling me, though, will you?"

Tom, though somewhat uncomfortably aware of Dumbledore's interested observation, wrapped it up around his arm. "Is that better?"

"Much."

"Good. Ah...I'm not sure if you're really aware of where you are, but this is a human school for magic. We're cleaning this room out, so it won't be safe for you here anymore. I... was thinking you could come stay with me, if you liked. I have a room here, with a very nice fireplace."

"That does sound nice... This one's going to be cold from now on, I suppose?"

"A lot cooler, at least, with all the ashes cleared away. Um...this is probably an awkward question, but...have you laid your eggs yet? I know your kind doesn't, um, live very long after that."

The snake sighed. "No... haven't got around to that yet."

"Ah. Well, if you want to...live longer, I can do a spell to delay that, you know. I think you'd be fun to keep around. My House symbol's a serpent, so you'll get loads of attention. And treats, if you want them," Tom added with a grin.

"I bet Tom could keep it from dying or setting the dormitory on fire," Rubeus was telling Dumbledore with obvious pride. "Yeh wouldn' mind his keepin' it with him, would yeh?" 

Dumbledore arched an eyebrow and sounded rather amused as he replied, "I should think he'd need to consult his own Head of House on that score; I've no objection -- and there is indeed an appropriate charm -- but neither do I have direct authority over the Slytherin dorms. Of course, perhaps what you really want to ask is whether I'd permit it to visit?"

Rubeus looked at his feet, kicking some ash back and forth, perhaps in hopes of spotting another Ashwinder. It wasn't fair Tom got all the interesting creatures lately. First Sharessa, now this! "Well, sir, I'd like that..."

"With correct precautions, I would have no objection. I'm rather surprised if Mr. Riddle _hasn't_ shared living quarters with serpents before. Literal ones, that is," he added lightly before a comment about Slytherins could be made.

"Great, sir!" Rubeus exclaimed with a happy grin stretched across his broad face.

Tom looked up from his conversation with the Ashwinder and said politely, "I hope you don't think I'm trying to shirk my detention, Professor. It's agreed to come stay with me, but I told it to stay quietly out of the way until we're finished. I'm sorry." He leaned down and let the snake slither off his arm. It crossed the room to coil up beside Dumbledore.

Dumbledore ran a hand over the Ashwinder's back, apparently delighting it greatly, and waved the other one. "I consider dealing with Ashwinders to be a legitimate aspect of cleaning the area. I must confess, though, given how easily you've befriended this one and your household's obvious hospitality toward various creatures, it seems rather strange to me that you say you haven't really kept pets before, even serpents?"

"Rubeus always kept pets enough for both of us at home, sir," Tom answered with a grin, looking over at his brother. "I got out of the habit of thinking about it. A few of the other Slytherins have had snakes, though, and I got to talk to them. Mostly I was busy with schoolwork."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled in answering humor. "I must admit to being pleased you didn't attempt to put last night's escapade off on your brother's penchant for wandering in search of such pets. I'm afraid I've been given flimsier excuses."

Tom straightened, his eyes narrowed. "A Slytherin doesn't hide behind someone else for his actions." He smiled a bit and added, "We just try not to get caught in the _first_ place."

"Well, as you didn't succeed in that particular effort this time... I think you'd best return to your work."

Tom grinned and Rubeus ducked his head. Both dutifully replied, "Yes, sir," brandished their wands again, and began sweeping up the ashes. Dumbledore watched them with an amused smile and a penetrating stare, absently scratching the Ashwinder's head.

*****

"See there? That wasn' so bad, and he's real nice." Rubeus, it seemed, was not especially distressed by the detention and considered the Ashwinder to more than compensate for any disadvantages to the situation. "He even taught yeh a better charm for keepin' it safe."

"Whatever you say, Rubeus," Tom murmured, scritching his new pet's head. It was currently twined all around his arm and looked perfectly content at the new arrangements. As for Tom himself, he still wouldn't consider an evening spent with Dumbledore gently interrogating him _pleasant_, but it could have been worse. Rubeus didn't seem to realize the old man had been pushing for information on what they'd been doing out of bed, but he hadn't let anything slip, either.

"Yeh'll let it come visit me, won't yeh, Tom?" Rubeus asked eagerly. "An' yeh've gotta name it. All pets need a good name."

"It already has a name of its own, you know." 

"Well, what is it?" 

In reply, Tom hissed something very long and involved in Parseltongue.

Rubeus blinked at him. "That's a _name_?"

"Snake names are very complex. But in English, it would be..." Tom frowned in consideration for a moment, then pronounced, "Fido."

Rubeus stared at him, then laughed. "All right. Fido it is then, and --" He broke off as they nearly walked into a small cluster of Gryffindors. "Hi!" 

"Hi Rubeus!"

Tom fought back a sigh. Weasley. Grand. _Just_ who Tom wanted to see. And...the MacMillan girl, plus another boy and girl he didn't recognize. Still, they were his brother's friends. He managed a friendly enough though slightly cool, "Hello."

"Here, look what Tom's found! Professor Dumbledore had us cleanin' a furnace room for detention, an' there was an Ashwinder!" 

One Gryffindor took a step back. Weasley appeared not to be doing so solely out of pride. The MacMillan girl clapped a hand to her cheek. "Rubeus! You're being enthusiastic about something nonvenomous! Are you all right?" She went as if to jump up and feel his forehead.

Tom smiled and said mildly, "Well, he doesn't _always_ go for venomous creatures. Sometimes they just have fangs." With a perverse (some would say Slytherin) sense of humor, he stepped forward and held his snake-bedecked arm out towards Weasley. "Don't you want to pet him?"

Weasley rather reluctantly lifted his hand toward the Ashwinder -- and then there was a loud but unintelligible hiss and he suddenly moved _much_ faster to catch a tiny ball-of-fur kitten that had just emerged from the back of the neck of his robes and flown at the Ashwinder's head. "Gah! Hold still you little -- Er, maybe another time, Riddle -- Turtle, hold still! -- And by the way the name is entirely my kid brother's fault."

Tom took a half-step back of his own and hissed something to Fido. "Can't you control your pets any better than that, Weasley?"

Rubeus, he noted, was shaking his head in deep disappointment over his friend's pet's lack of serious fangs, claws, or venom, though he DID brighten when it sank its tiny teeth into Weasley's hand.

"Well, he was fine until we ran into you." Weasley extracted his thumb and stuck it briefly in his own mouth, then removed it, got the kitten settled firmly in the palm of one hand, and scratched the top of its head. 

Rubeus frowned at _both_ of them. "Be nice, now. Wasn't any harm done either way."

"Hmph. Remind me to keep Fido away from Gryffindor pets. They're decidedly ill-mannered." Tom scratched his own pet's chin as it flicked its tongue out at him. 

"I didn't think we were allowed to have Ashwinders," the MacMillan girl spoke up, more fearless than her companions in the presence of snakes. A good trait, Tom thought warmly. "They can cause a lot of damage, can't they?"

"Only if you let them lay their eggs somewhere that can catch fire. Don't worry, Fido's charmed safe."

"Brilliant. Can I pet it?" She stopped and blinked. "Wait. Fido?"

"Of course. Be gentle, though. It's not used to being around people." Tom smiled ruefully. "Fido's the best English translation I can manage of its real name."

She offered the back of her hand first, fingers curled under, as if greeting a strange dog that might theoretically try a nibble, and waited until the forked tongue had flicked at her before trailing fingers along the back of its head. "Must be convenient to be able to ask what it wants to be called. I had to guess until my cat started answering."

"It's handy," Tom admitted. "It's also nice to explain why I'm taking it away from where it's lived all its life, and which parts of the castle it can't go to. And snakes are very intelligent."

"Hmm." She started to take her hand away, then started laughing when Fido bumped it determinedly with its head. "And a bit demanding? _There's_ a familiar trick." 

There was a "Mwrrl?" from around her ankles as what was presumably the aforementioned cat wandered up to them. Tom glanced down; it was a small, tawny short-fur and looked for all the world like a miniature lioness.

"What is this, wander around with your pets day?" Tom wondered aloud. "I thought they were generally supposed to remain in your dormitories." He gave his best "don't make me take points away" prefects stare.

MacMillan shrugged. "I see toads in class all the time. Leona's very well behaved -- but I suspect her of being able to walk through walls." 

"Just what we need. I thought Dumbledore said there weren't any lions as Gryffindor pets."

She laughed and crouched down to pick up Leona, then came back up and started petting Fido again before it could do more than look for her. Leona looked intrigued. "Wellll, in name only...."

"What were you doing talking to Professor Dumbledore anyway?" the boy whose name Tom couldn't remember asked, a bit hostilely. "I thought _Slytherins_ didn't like him."

Tom prudently resisted the urge to say that he _didn't_. 

"Eh, we had detention for bein' out... talkin' to each other after curfew," Rubeus said easily. 

"_You_ got detention, Riddle? Thought you were a teacher's pet."

Tom arched one black eyebrow. "We both got detention, as Rubeus just said. It was quite worth it to get Fido out of the deal. Not that it's any business of yours."

He tensed as Leona started walking down the MacMillan girl's arm to investigate Fido. Her mistress didn't look alarmed, but he wasn't certain how reassuring that was; she WAS a Gryffindor.... Then again Fido didn't seem terribly alarmed either. Leona reached out a velveted paw to pat the Ashwinder on the head. Fido's tongue snaked out to flick at the cat, which looked almost amused. Tom shook his head. "Now _that's_ unnatural."

"I dunno, Tom. I think lions and snakes should get along more often," Rubeus told him with a grin.

Moira MacMillan snickered. "See, not all Gryffindor pets are ill-mannered. Turtle's just a baby anyway; he doesn't know better. He was locked in mortal combat with a bedpost earlier, I understand."

Tom politely kept his opinions about Gryffindors to himself, in consideration for his brother standing there. "All the same, I think I'll keep Fido away from him. Although why Weasley's brother named him 'Turtle' is beyond me."

"He's four. It's beyond everybody." 

Leona climbed carefully _over_ Fido and settled in the crook of Tom's arm next to the Ashwinder, purring loudly. Tom looked slightly disconcerted at this, making MacMillan giggle behind her hand. "So Rubeus, will you be bringing Fido to visit us in Gryffindor? It looks like Leona would miss it."

"I'm hopin' Tom will let me, yes." Rubeus grinned broadly. 

"Hmm. Maybe. As long as you promise to keep Turtle away from it." Tom scratched Leona lightly under her chin and hissed something to Fido.

"I'm sure we can manage," MacMillan said. 

"What'd you say to it?" Rubeus asked with interest.

"I asked if it'd mind visiting you and Leona. It said okay, as long as you have a nice fireplace."

"Well, I don' know for sure about Ashwinders, but the salamanders seem to've liked 'em all right."

Tom hissed at the snake again. This time it hissed back for a while. Tom listened intently, then started laughing. "Ah, it says that sounds nice."

Rubeus gave him a deeply suspicious look. "What _else_ did it say?"

"Just that it'll be nice to be around people with gentle hands, even if some of them smell afraid for no reason."

Some of the Gryffindors looked insulted. MacMillan chuckled and shook her head. "Well, considering it looks like it's as long as Rubeus here, it's good to know there isn't reason!"

"It's a perfectly innocent Ashwinder. They're not even venomous," Tom replied, starting to realize how Rubeus felt about _his_ strange pets. 

"It's real nice, too," Rubeus added."

"What do Ashwinders eat, anyway? Or do they? All anything ever says about them is that they come out of magical fires and their eggs set new ones, and then there's usually a reference to a Potions text. Nothing about in between."

"Well, usually they lay their eggs pretty quickly, so they don't live very long. But I put a charm on Fido so it won't lay eggs. They don't need to eat. They get all the energy they need out of fires. That's why they stay near the fireplaces all the time," Tom explained, still scratching Leona. Fido had uncoiled a bit from his arms to put its head nearer to MacMillan, swaying a bit to attract her attention.

MacMillan apologized to the Ashwinder and dutifully went back to petting it. "Well, that does make sense. Had I better let you get it back to one, though? You were walking pretty quickly...."

Tom blinked as Fido commenced a snake version of purring. It apparently _really_ liked this girl. "Probably. We've just been up in the furnaces, though, so it's not like it's starving. It was looking forward to getting pampered by the Slytherins, but you appear to be taking care of that pretty well."

She grinned. "And Leona seems to have decided to adopt you. I wonder if I should feel deserted?"

"I'll never be able to show my face in the Slytherin dorms again if I show up with a miniature lion," Tom said easily, passing Leona back to her owner with a parting scritch. "But I'll be sure to save some fish for her when I can."

"That's nice of you. I'll look forward to seeing Fido again, too." The Ashwinder arched under a final stroke before the Gryffindors (except, of course, Rubeus) moved past and went on toward their own dorm.

Rubeus was grinning at him. "What?" Tom asked as Fido redraped itself more comfortably across Tom's shoulders.

"Congratulations."

"For what?"

"Th' first civilized conversation I've seen yeh have with Gryffindors this year. Besides me, o'course."

Tom snorted. "Well... the MacMillan girl does seem to have good taste. Except for the miniature lion, of course."

"Yeh didn' seem to mind the miniature lion that much, or didn' yeh notice the way yeh were petting her?"

"It seemed only polite."

"Uh-huh." Rubeus grinned at him. "And you're always so polite ter Gryffindors."

"You'll notice only the one of them, besides you, was all that polite to Fido," Tom pointed out. "Though she _did_ get it purring."

"Most folks don' understand interestin' creatures. They've all got _boring_ pets."

"Well, that 'Turtle' was certainly excited enough itself." Tom glared over his shoulder, though the Gryffindors were out of sight by now. "Stupid little fluff-ball."

Rubeus rolled his eyes. "Don' know why Xavier likes it so much. It's silly. Yeh just don' like it because it tried ter attack Fido, though."

"That's a perfectly legitimate reason!"

"It's only a baby an' acted on instinct." Rubeus paused. "Stupid instinct, since most other snakes that size'd probably take it for a mouse an' have lunch, I'd think, but Xavier _did_ catch it an' there wasn' any harm done on either side."

"This is why I don't like cats." Tom scratched Fido's head, which was draped on his shoulder. "And I think I'd better get Fido to a nice fire."

"Leona didn' pounce," Rubeus pointed out. 

"Leona," Tom said with dignity, starting off again towards his dorms, "is clearly a poor snake transfigured into a cat's body."

*****


	5. Secrets Revealed

_Disclaimer: This is a work of fan-fiction based on the Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling. No undue claim nor material profit is intended._

**Creatures Great and Small  
by Andrea13 and Persephone  
Chapter 5**

Tom and Rubeus had been much more careful for some time, but still found chances to visit Sharessa. She seemed to like Fido, though they weren't sure whether to build a fire in the Chamber and thus Fido really preferred not to visit that often. One night, however, Sharessa pushed Tom steadily up to the mouth of the tunnel -- and as he stepped out of it, he went deadly pale to see Dumbledore standing quietly by one of the other sinks.

He wondered for one brief, panicked moment if he could just slide back down the tunnel unseen, but Dumbledore's unusually serious blue eyes were fastened on him. "Ah...hello, sir." He turned back to Sharessa before she could slide back down, "Wait at the bottom with Rubeus, please. I'll call you back up when it's safe."

"You sssmell afraid," she returned uncertainly. 

"I'll be all right. Go, _please_."

She went. Tom turned to Dumbledore and swallowed hard. "I'm afraid," Dumbledore said very quietly, "that you've managed to be caught again. Would you care to explain this, Mr. Riddle?"

~Not really,~ Tom thought fleetingly, then squared his shoulders and stepped over to face Dumbledore. The sink slid quietly back into place as he moved away from it. "I'm sorry, sir, I know I shouldn't be out of the dorms after hours. I... Just know I wasn't doing anything harmful."

Dumbledore's eyes turned momentarily from Tom to the sink. "Were you not?"

Tom swallowed. "No sir. I know it looks bad, but..." Tom cut himself off before he could dig himself any deeper into trouble than he was in the moment Dumbledore saw him.

"Where is your brother?" Dumbledore's gaze shifted back to Tom, who met it and found himself thinking he'd almost rather look Sharessa in the eyes instead.

"...This late, I'd think he was in his dormitory, sir." There was no need to bring Rubeus into this, really. His record had enough black marks thanks to his "pets"; no need to add one of his brother's.

"He is not there." 

"...Oh."

"_Do_ you know where he is, Tom?" 

Tom wondered wildly why Dumbledore had suddenly switched to first names. If it was supposed to be reassuring, it was NOT working. ~Slytherins are _cunning_,~ he told himself fiercely. ~So show why you're a Slytherin!~ Of course, most Slytherins didn't get caught coming out of a thousand year old hidden Chamber housing a deadly beast. Tom took a deep breath. "Rubeus and I don't get to see each other very much during the school year, sir. I don't keep track of where he goes all the time."

Dumbledore's eyes didn't leave his. "I do seem to recall your making some comment regarding how often you saw each other last time I spoke to you regarding being out -- at a very similar hour to this one, in fact. Again I ask you: where is your brother?"

Tom wondered if Dumbledore could somehow detect lies. Would it be _safe_ to tell the professor about Sharessa? He was a Gryffindor, after all. There was something about him Tom just didn't like, but at the same time, he felt almost as if he could trust the man.... Tom swallowed and admitted, "He's downstairs, sir. But I want you to know that this was all my idea and my responsibility. Rubeus just went along with it, I promise."

The ice-blue thawed slightly. "I can't imagine Rubeus being unenthusiastic about meeting a basilisk, but I am glad you chose to tell me the truth. I followed you here." 

Tom's jaw dropped. "A -- You -- How did you --?"

"Recognize a basilisk? Well, there are few serpents that size to begin with, fewer still that are the plausible subject of the legend of secret chambers. More simply? If you spoke to it in Parseltongue it _had_ to be a serpent, and the head I glimpsed was either eyeless or had eyelids, which implies the part-avian ancestry of a basilisk." Dumbledore frowned slightly. "I seriously _doubt_ you would take Rubeus into danger, so I assume you've taken precautions regarding the situation, but you _are_ surely aware of the... unpalatable details of the legends?"

"Sharessa was raised around humans, sir," Tom replied promptly, slightly mollified at the professor's confidence but still insulted that he'd even _consider_ Tom would endanger his little brother. He was still kicking himself for the rather obvious clues Dumbledore mentioned. "She knows to keep her eyes closed, and WE know not to get near her fangs. She's really very nice."

"Is she. And has she... offered any comment on her supposed purpose here? Not, it is clear, that you have demonstrated any intention of carrying it out."

"She said that Salazar Slytherin left her after he argued with Gryffindor, to protect the students in case any enemies breached the castle... and to be a companion and aide to his Heir. Nothing about killing Muggle-borns, sir." Tom's mouth quirked up in a rueful smile. "I'd be a little out of luck there."

"A point. And I am aware of basilisks' protective tendencies; a very plausible scenario." Dumbledore's mouth twitched slightly. "Unfortunate, however, that his chosen entrance happens to fall currently in a girls' restroom." 

"Believe me, I thought the same thing when I found it," Tom replied with a hesitant smile. Then tentatively, "Then you're not going to... kill her or send her away, sir?"

"Why do you believe I should do that, Mr. Riddle?"

Back to last names now. It was something of a relief. "Because she's a basilisk. Slytherin's basilisk. But she _won't_ hurt anyone! Not anyone here."

"In other words, you _don't_ believe I should do that." 

"Er. That's right. Yes." 

"If... Sharessa... is a part of the school's defenses rather than a threat to any of its students, then no, there seems no reason to send her away from the place she was established for that purpose. I must, however, point out that you are still not supposed to be visiting her in the middle of the night."

"...I didn't want to take a chance that the professors would...stop to think things through. She's been here since the school was _founded_. I -- People would see if I came here during the day..."

"The location could indeed be something of a problem," Dumbledore said gravely. "Don't you exaggerate slightly, though? There _was_ considerable time between the founding itself and Slytherin's... departure."

"She said Slytherin raised her from an egg, and she was around for a while until he left, so she had to have been here since fairly soon after the Founding. I've never asked exactly. Snakes measure time differently anyway." Tom cast a sidelong look at the entrance sink. "Should I call her up, sir? Rubeus must be getting worried..."

"Yes, please do."

Tom returned to the sink and hissed, "Open up." Dumbledore was watching in fascination as the sink sank and the tunnel was revealed. Tom leaned over the opening and called down, "Rubeus, it's all right, you can come up now," then hissed instructions to Sharessa.

After a moment, Rubeus' grinning face showed up as Sharessa pushed him up the tunnel. "So what went wrong, Tom? Was Peeves causin'--" His voice cut off abruptly though his mouth seemed to forget to close as he saw Dumbledore waiting for them. His skin took on an odd shade of green. "...Hello, sir."

"Are you safe, Salazar's Heir?" Sharessa hissed worriedly. "Do you need my help?"

"I'm all right, Sharessa. In a little trouble for visiting you when I'm supposed to be asleep, but it's... it's not very bad. You don't need to do anything." 

"Hello, Mr. Hagrid." Dumbledore sighed and shook his head. "Really, there's no need to look so ill. I've caught you in more violations at once than now more times than I can count offhand."

"Uh...I'm sorry, sir," Rubeus offered, ducking his head. "Sharessa wouldn't hurt anybody, Professor."

"So Mr. Riddle has been assuring me. I have no intention of harming, ah, Sharessa. However, I _would_ like to meet her, if possible...?"

Tom blinked. "Er... well, she is right here." He turned to Sharessa and hissed, "Professor Dumbledore wants to meet you."

"Well, I am right here."

"You _can_ come a bit out of the tunnel, if you like," Dumbledore addressed the serpent. "I assume you'll be my translator, Mr. Riddle? I'm quite fascinated to meet someone who knew one of the Founders." His eyes twinkled as he added, "Yes, even one not of my own House."

Sharessa slithered a bit further out and listened as Tom relayed Dumbledore's fascination. She gave a hissing laugh and said, "I knew all four."

"Really?" Dumbledore sounded delighted when Tom relayed that. "Our legends indicate that the monster of the Chamber was a secret to all but Slytherin."

"Monster? I am not a monster." Sharessa sounded slightly offended, then gave a hissing laugh and flicked her tongue in Dumbledore's direction. "Except to enemies of the school, perhaps."

"My apologies. It would seem the stories are not all correct." 

Sharessa emerged far enough to raise her head and put her chin on Tom's shoulder. "I was here for some time before I was hidden, and I had met Godric before the school was built at all. He liked me once he got used to me."

"So you _were_ here for the school's founding? How fascinating. Mr. Riddle, you may have just condemned yourself to standing as translator for some _very_ interested historians."

Tom blinked. "S-sir? Are you serious?"

"A living witness to the founding of Hogwarts and four of the most powerful witches and wizards in history? She would appear to be an invaluable resource. I take it you have an objection?"

"No! I just -- wasn't sure if you meant -- Well, the stories _do_ call her a monster, and so on. I wasn't sure the historians would believe her. And she has... she doesn't have the same perspective as a human. Not that she wouldn't be reliable, she just couldn't answer exactly the same questions...."

"A few discreet inquiries should turn up a historian or two willing to work within the... unique constraints. We will, of course, have to inform Headmaster Dippet of your discovery."

Tom paled again. Even if Dumbledore was being, or seemed to be, astonishingly accepting about the whole thing, would Dippet be? Then again, maybe there was some substance to the rumors that Dumbledore could talk the man into almost anything....

"I understand you're concerned about her safety, Mr. Riddle. That's a very laudable sentiment. Might I suggest that, as you seem to be the only one capable of opening the entrance to the Chamber, you will be able to keep Sharessa safe until _you_ are convinced of each person's sincerity."

"Er... yes. I -- sir, do you think Headmaster Dippet will be...." He really should not be having so much trouble forming sentences. But finding Dumbledore here _had_ been quite a shock.

"I believe that the Headmaster will see this as the historical discovery it is...properly presented, of course." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as if he knew precisely what Tom was thinking. If even half of what Tom had heard of the professor was true, he probably _did_.

"Ah... yes, sir." 

Sharessa nudged his shoulder gently. "I think I like this one. Be calm, Salazar's Heir. He does not smell like someone to fear."

"I...think you're right about _him_," Tom hissed back nervously, "but I'm a little worried about everyone _else_. He wants to tell people about you, let you talk to historians about the Founders. I'm just not sure..."

Sharessa considered this. "I was always known before. I do not see why that should be a problem, although I should not wish enemies to learn of me. But I do not know why it had to be secret that Salazar left me here."

"I'm not sure either, but that's why I'm worried about letting everyone know about you _now_. I don't know if there was a reason for you to be secret."

"But there are stories of me, you said. Sso I am not entirely a ssecret already."

"Yes, but no one believes you actually _exist_. Wizards have searched for the Chamber for hundreds of years. They'd decided it wasn't real."

Sharessa hissed in distress. "How am I to protect a refuge if no one knows to sseek it if they're in danger?"

Tom blinked. "I...didn't think of it like that. You said that you'd be released if anyone ever breached the school's defenses. Besides, I'm the only Parselmouth in the school. No one else COULD get to it."

"I would have been released, but it wouldn't be much help if the sschool thought _me_ to be an enemy as well... and the Heir was _ssupposed_ to know where to lead other sstudents to ssafety, bessides directing me against foes if needed."

"Well, if you're all right with it, then I guess it's fine. I just don't want you to be hurt."

"I am not easy to destroy, Salazar's Heir, even when I do not fight. Except by roossters, of course."

"Just being protective," Tom said with a rueful grin, scratching her eyeridges. He switched back to English and looked over at Professor Dumbledore, who was regarding him with an expression of amused tolerance. "Sharessa thinks it's a good idea, sir, but I want to make sure precautions are taken so she's kept safe."

"I would expect nothing less, Mr. Riddle." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled merrily. "Now then, boys, why don't you both get back to your dormitories and go to bed? Headmaster Dippet will likely call for you sometime tomorrow, Riddle, after I've told him about Sharessa."

"Yes, sir," Tom sighed in resignation.

"Good. Have a pleasant night, gentlemen." Dumbledore paused at the door to the corridor, then looked back with that infuriating smile of his and added, "Oh, and ten points from both your Houses for wandering around at night."

*****

"There's a what?! --That's not possible." Headmaster Dippet's eyes were very wide as he stared at his colleague across the desk. "Albus, it really is not the best time to be joking about such things."

"I assure you, it's possible. Unless I've been carrying on a conversation with a figment of my imagination.

"...You're a Parselmouth, Albus?" 

"Not exactly.... Mr. Riddle was translating."

"One of our students opened the Chamber of Secrets and you haven't yet mentioned expulsion?!"

"It hardly seems to call for such drastic action. He _was_ out after curfew and not engaged in prefect duties, I admit, but even in repeated cases that has not generally been grounds for expulsion. The serpent seems to be quite good-natured and is, after all, a long-  
established portion of the school's defenses."

"Defenses?" Dippet spluttered for a moment. "Albus! Need I remind you that the Chamber of Secrets was created to house a monster that would eradicate the Muggle-borns? The monster you now claim is 'good-natured'?"

"The legends appear to have been somewhat mistaken," Dumbledore said gently. "You _are_ aware, I'm sure, that young Mr. Riddle is in fact a half-blood himself? And you will note that he has been in communication with her for some weeks now, apparently, with no ill effects on the school population."

"So you propose that we simply let a deadly beast roam the school at will, with only a fifth-year's word that it will behave?"

"She's hardly been roaming the school. Surely you know me too well to think I'd advocate a course of action likely to destroy the Muggle-born students? Try meeting with her. And think -- it seems that before she was left in the Chamber, she was familiar with all the Founders." Dumbledore chuckled. "I might even wonder if she became a secret partly because no one would have believed Slytherin would have left her behind." 

Dippet frowned and folded his hands in front of him. "I will meet with this...thing. You said it was familiar with all the Founders?"

"Indeed. I was rather intrigued by her description of Godric Gryffindor. I'm sure there are several historians who would be panting to come speak with her."

"I'm almost afraid to ask what Slytherin's monster might say about Godric Gryffindor."

"I believe it was along the lines of that he was very nice, and once he got used to her was quite good about petting her scales."

Dippet blinked. Repeatedly. "Not, er, quite what I was expecting."

Dumbledore politely refrained from saying "Obviously." To be fair, it had come as rather a surprise to him too. "Well, it's not quite the usual image of him, I realize."

"Well, since you're so convinced this...creature will not harm the students and you've clearly had more time to think about it than I have, what are you suggesting?"

"First, I am suggesting that you speak with her, and that perhaps we should make discreet inquiries about interested historians. I'd also advise silencing charms on all roosters on the grounds should we decide to introduce her to the student body."

"Hrm. Very well, I will meet it, and make my decision then."

"Good. I'm sure you won't be disappointed." 

Dippet's expression suggested he rather doubted that, but he scrawled a note for a house elf to take to whichever professor was currently teaching one Mr. Tom Riddle and followed Dumbledore through the maze of corridors to--"A girls' toilet? Really, Albus, what kind of entrance for the Chamber of Secrets is this?"

"An extremely inconvenient one. I would assume that it had some other purpose at the time of Slytherin's departure."

"I would hope so," Dippet muttered, tapping his foot impatiently until Tom came ducking around the corner.

"You wanted to speak with me, sir?" he asked deferentially.

"I'm afraid technically he should like to speak with Sharessa," Dumbledore explained unnecessarily. Dippet nodded sharply.

Tom nodded, keeping his unhappiness masked. "Of course, sir. The entrance is just inside." He opened the door and gestured the professors in with a little bow.

"Open," he hissed to the tap, then as the sink dropped, "Sharessa? Ah, the headmaster wants to talk to you...."

Sharessa, who'd been waiting for this and hadn't gone back to her sealed den behind the statue, came slithering up and out the tunnel. She flicked her tongue at all three, then settled with her head near Tom's shoulder. "I am here," she hissed unnecessarily.

Dippet's eyes widened.

"As you can see," Dumbledore murmured, "she automatically takes the precaution of closing her eyes."

"Salazar Slytherin raised her from an egg, Headmaster," Tom put in. "He trained her to keep her eyes closed when around people. She's used to it."

"Being kept blind doesn't...frustrate her?" Dippet asked dubiously.

Sharessa hissed a laugh when Tom relayed the question. "It is less frussstrating than being alone. Is he going to let me see the ssstudents again?" A gusty serpentine sigh. "I miss the ssstudents."

"Thanks a lot," Tom laughed before relaying her words to the headmaster.

Dippet raised an eyebrow. "Is she...particularly sociable?"

"Well, I'm not sure what you mean by _particularly_, but she was raised with people and likes being around them. She was very happy when we started visiting."

"Are you certain that's not purely due to your being a Parselmouth?"

"Yes, sir. Well, that let me get in to see her at all -- but she likes Rubeus too."

"Who I believe has a disturbing fondness for dangerous creatures. Hardly the best recommendations."

Tom bit down firmly on his temper. "Rubeus _is_ very fond of dangerous creatures, but he's definitely not a Parselmouth and thus that can't be the reason Sharessa likes _him_, sir."

"It could be lying about knowing the Founders at all, trying to trick us into letting it loose in the school."

"Sir...." Tom took a deep breath. "Basilisks tend to be... comparatively docile toward Parselmouths. And I believe I could tell if she were lying. If she expected her purpose to be to answer to Salazar's Heir, why would she try to trick him? She'd assume he'd want her to do what his ancestor expected."

"He sssmells mistrustful," Sharessa pronounced, flicking her tongue towards Dippet. "Why? I answer to you, and you are his ssstudent. I like the other one better."

"I'm starting to agree with you," Tom hissed softly back, "and I never used to like Dumbledore!" 

"What did it say? What are you telling it?" Dippet demanded.

"I told _her_ that you were just being cautious of your students, but of course she wouldn't be locked in the Chamber again."

"Mr. Riddle, you really shouldn't make promises you're uncertain of keeping...."

"You're NOT locking her in the Chamber again!" Tom exploded. "How would you feel being locked in one room for a thousand years, with no one to talk to? Sharessa's NOT a danger! Even if you don't want her loose around the school, _I'll_ still visit her."

"Mr. Riddle, calm down!" Dippet sounded outraged. 

"She hasn't done ANYTHING to make you think she's a danger! She was left to protect the school by _Salazar Slytherin_."

"Stop ssshouting, Salazar's Heir," Sharessa hissed urgently, sticking her head in front of Tom's torso and leaning back, seeming determined to keep him on his feet.

"Who was --"

"A Founder, and may be assumed to have had the welfare of the school at heart even if there were some disagreements as to how best to promote it." Dumbledore stepped forward hastily, moving between them to break the line of vision and then resting a hand on Tom's shoulder. Tom assumed this was supposed to be reassuring. Either that or to tell him to keep his mouth shut. "Headmaster," Dumbledore said evenly and formally, "I really believe the young man should easily be forgiven an outburst in the defense of a friend. And I believe she is a friend to him, and would be to us. Despite their reputation, not all basilisks are murderous, I can assure you. And this one has been very polite, and you must admit that neither Mr. Riddle's record nor hers -- fact, I mean, not legend -- gives the slightest indication of malice."

Tom looked back and forth between Dumbledore's hand on his shoulder and Sharessa's head in front of him. Both, it seemed, were determined to keep him calm -- or at least keep him from bodily assaulting Dippet for being an idiot. Tom started to have the faintest inkling why the Gryffindors all seemed so fanatically devoted to their House's Head, and promptly tried to push the feeling aside.

"I apologize for shouting, Headmaster," he said formally, resting one hand on the basilisk's head. "I'm just concerned about Sharessa, but I would _never_ do anything to hurt the students here. The first person I brought down was my _brother_!"

"And I'm sure all present for Rubeus's Sorting can testify to the affection between them," Dumbledore said, straight-faced.

Tom blushed bright red. Merlin, did everyone have to bring that up _constantly_? It was three years ago! He struggled to control his blushes and scratched Sharessa's eye ridge instead, soothing both of them.

Dippet's mouth twitched slightly. "Well... well, this is true. Perhaps...."

"Sharessa's bound to obey the Heir of Slytherin, sir," Tom added, a hint of desperation in his voice. "Even if you don't trust her, I promise I can keep her under control."

Dumbledore managed to second this firmly without giving the impression of casting aspersions on Sharessa's character, and Dippet finally gave in and departed. Dumbledore turned to Tom. "I believe that to have been one of the more difficult hurdles." He raised an eyebrow at Sharessa. "It rather looked as if she was concerned about keeping you under control for a moment, I must admit."

"She doesn't like to see me upset, sir," Tom mumbled, looking down at the basilisk and scratching her scales lightly. He swallowed uncomfortably and added, "Thank you for speaking for her, Professor." A slight grin. "Even if you _did_ have to bring up Rubeus's Sorting."

"Even if you do find it embarrassing, the incident has its uses. As I said, it _does_ make it quite difficult to doubt your fondness for your brother, and there are some who would despite all evidence to the contrary. And besides...to amuse someone who does not wish to be amused is often a good first step to persuasion."

"I got teased for a month, by people in _every_ House," Tom muttered. Then he sighed and met Dumbledore's eyes. "Still...thank you for helping Sharessa." Because Merlin knew the Head of Gryffindor would never have done it for _him_.

"You're very welcome." Dumbledore smiled down at him. "And I should have hated to see Hogwarts lose such a promising student. The Headmaster _can_ jump to conclusions at times, but is generally reasonable after some thought."

Tom's eyebrows flew up. "I -- er, well --" Oh, that was coherent! "I -- should take Sharessa back to the Chamber and get back to class."

"Indeed you should. I do hope you won't suffer excessively from the interruption; I confess I had not expected quite such immediate action."

Tom shrugged. "I was in Potions, sir. I'm three weeks ahead there as it is."

"Well. In that case I suppose I need not be concerned." Dumbledore gestured to the Chamber entrance on his way out. "Proceed, then."

"Yes sir." Tom smiled faintly, then leaned against Sharessa for a moment. "Well, the Headmaster's convinced," he hissed wearily. "Dumbledore seems to think that's going to be the hardest. You'd best go back to the Chamber for a while."

"Are you well, Salazar's Heir? You sound tired and a little shaken." 

Tom wondered whether the basilisk had spoken to the Founder himself that way. It was difficult to imagine one of the Founders tired or shaken, but he supposed since they were human, perhaps at times.... "I am a little tired. And... well, it was easy to keep you safe when Rubeus and I were the only ones who knew you were there. I thought Dippet might try to get rid of you. I know you're supposed to be protecting us, but...."

"I will be ssafe, my friend. Don't worry."

"Hey, I'll worry if I want to." Tom hugged her, then scratched her eyeridges once more in farewell. "I'll come talk to you as soon as I can, but I have to get back to class now. Hopefully I'll have news for you then."

She looped a coil around him affectionately, then slithered back down the tunnel. Tom sighed and closed the opening, then left before any students could walk in and ask what he was doing in the girls' toilet.

*****

Dinner at Hogwarts. While on weekdays this tended to be a fairly haphazard affair, with students often rushing out early or skipping entirely to study, practice Quidditch, or whatever else their interests demanded, on Sunday evenings the Great Hall was invariably packed full. Students chatted noisily about the coming week, while the professors at the high table braced themselves for the tumult that was to come. 

For all that no one often missed Sunday dinners, nothing much really tended to happen. This was why students were surprised to see Headmaster Dippet rise as the meal wound to a close, tapping on his goblet for silence. "I regret to disturb such important conversations, but I hope that you will all indulge me for a few moments. I have a rather important announcement to make."

Whispers immediately erupted all around the Hall. Even the seventh years couldn't remember many occasions of school-wide announcements in the middle of term. At the Slytherin table, Tom Riddle tried to remain calm and impassive, but exchanged a speaking glance with his younger brother over at the Gryffindor table.

Dippet waited for the whispers to mostly die down before speaking again. "As you all have no doubt come to realize, Hogwarts is a place unlike any other. Our great Founders imbued this castle with many secrets, to educate, amuse, and defend future generations of students. Even after all my years here, there are still aspects of the castle I am discovering." He smiled wryly. "As was proven to me recently by two of our own students. One of our Founders left behind a great resource for us to enjoy, though it was unfortunately lost to us over time. I'm certain," again that wry smile, "that Salazar Slytherin would be pleased to know that a Gryffindor and a Slytherin worked together to rediscover his legacy."

This was met primarily by puzzled and skeptical murmurs. "Okay, first of all -- no offense, Tom -- the stories aren't too positive about 'Slytherin's Legacy'," Roald Parkinson muttered. "Second, why would he be happy about working with a _Gryffindor_?"

"Bet the Gryffindor wasn't even involved except to make nice with Dumbledore or something," Lucinda Malfoy returned with a sniff. "Then again, maybe that was the point of dragging him in...."

Over at the Gryffindor table, Rubeus was hearing similar (if somewhat reversed) sentiments. 

"Why would a _Gryffindor_ want anything to do with a Slytherin?" Edmund Brocklehurst asked loudly. "No offense, Rubeus. But honestly, why would one of US want to find whatever horrible thing Slytherin left?"

Rubeus just shrugged and didn't say anything, making Moira MacMillan narrow her eyes and look sharply across to Tom. Dippet waited another few moments, then gestured and said, "Mr. Riddle, Mr. Hagrid, if you please?"

Tom's friends all gaped openly at him as he pushed back his chair and went up to the head table. He was blushing again, for pity's sake. He wasn't supposed to blush when he was called up in front of the other students to have accomplishments recognized. He never had _before_. Rubeus, on the other hand, was grinning broadly. That was probably a more appropriate reaction, really....

Strictly speaking, Rubeus wasn't even necessary for this part of the revelation, but Tom insisted that he'd played an equal role in the Chamber's discovery and thus was due equal credit. Dumbledore simply quirked an eyebrow at him, smiled that infuriatingly knowing smile, and agreed. Both boys stopped just in front of the high table and turned back around to face their peers. Tom fought down his blushes and cleared his throat. "Ah...just remember that this is nothing dangerous, not to students anyway, so...stay calm," he suggested, then began hissing in Parseltongue.

From the Gryffindor table, Wood snorted, "Should've known that Riddle would be involved somehow. He's always..." His voice trailed off and his skin assumed a color more appropriate to the Slytherins as he caught sight of Sharessa slithering into the Great Hall behind the professors.

She moved around the head table (at the end nearest the Slytherins, not all of whom looked precisely honored) and, eyes safely and firmly shut, came up to nudge her head between Tom and Rubeus's shoulders. Rubeus was still grinning like this was the most exciting thing to have ever happened to him. Tom finally managed a smile, drawing comfort from Sharessa's presence and her hissed, "Be calm, Salazar's Heir. The presentation will go well. Who would not be honored to meet ME?"

Dippet's face was slightly pale as he looked at the deadly creature posing between two of his students, but in the flickering candlelight no one could tell. "Mr. Riddle and Mr. Hagrid managed to locate and open Slytherin's famed Chamber of Secrets." There were muffled exclamations and the whispers sprung up again full force. Dippet had to speak loudly over the din. 

"Contrary to legend, what they discovered was not a monster, but a guardian of the school and a one-time confidante of Salazar Slytherin himself. It has been shown to my satisfaction that the basilisk, who goes by the name Sharessa, is no danger to any but Hogwart's enemies, and will be a valuable resource to the school and the wizarding community at large." He paused, then added, "Fifty points will be awarded to both Slytherin and Gryffindor for this achievement."

There was applause. It was somewhat uncertain at first, to the point that someone could be heard to say dazedly, "Merlin. A _basilisk_. Wouldn't you know those two would come up with a basilisk," and someone else "Its name is _what_?!" before efforts on the part of a determined few strengthened it to the point of an appropriately healthy roar. Sharessa flicked her tongue out happily. 

There were shrieks from a few more timid first-years, but when Sharessa made no attempt to begin randomly snacking on the student body, they calmed down slightly. Tom reached up to scratch Sharessa's scales, noting with a tinge of pleasure that the Gryffindor MacMillan girl was one of those leading the initial applause. He knew from her reaction to Fido that she didn't share the usual Gryffindor dislike to snakes, so this was a good sign. Of what, exactly, he didn't inquire too deeply. One of the Hufflepuffs eventually raised a hand. Tom turned to look at Dippet, who gestured to him encouragingly, so he cautiously acknowledged the younger boy. "Yes?"

"She hasn't shown any inclination against Muggle-borns?"

"Well," Tom began, "it seems _everyone_ knows I'm half-blood, and apparently that doesn't bother her. And she's been very emphatic that she was supposed to protect the school and the students."

"I really hate to press the issue... but I've been given the impression that Salazar Slytherin may well have considered Muggle-born students a threat to be protected from."

"Would you prefer hearing her direct answer?" Tom asked, then promptly began hissing a translation to Sharessa without waiting for a reply. They hissed back and forth for a few moments, then Tom turned back to the Hufflepuff. "Right, then. Sharessa said that Slytherin and Gryffindor argued a lot about Muggle-born students because they were the ones likely to expose Hogwarts to angry Muggle mobs. We all know that Muggles don't always have the best reactions to finding out about magic." His mouth twisted sourly for a moment. "But Sharessa is very clear that once the Muggle-borns WERE students, she was to protect them equally." He grinned suddenly. "So as long as you avoid bringing in any of those angry mobs, she doesn't have any problem with you."

The boy's mouth twitched. "I think I can avoid that."

"If you couldn't, Mr. Lucas," Professor Dumbledore put in, his eyes twinkling, "I suspect your professors might wish to have a word with you before Sharessa had anything to say about the matter."

The students laughed, the tension broke slightly, and several more hands waved in the air. 

"Tom, why'd Slytherin hide her if she's a protector?" a Slytherin third-year asked.

"...She's not entirely sure of that herself," Tom admitted, "but the Chamber of Secrets was originally intended as a refuge in case enemies did get into the school. She was supposed to be released in that event as well, but I _think_ there may have been a, ah, breakdown in communications somewhere along the way, maybe because of the way he left, maybe not, and the way to open the Chamber was lost." He paused. "Then again, to my knowledge Hogwarts never _has_ been invaded, so for all we know there may have been some sort of spell that such an event would have triggered and let her out just fine. I'm inclined to think that's the case."

"...Couldn't that be a problem if people thought _she_ was the enemy as well?"

"Well, that's why we're introducing her." There was a ripple of laughter. Tom took a breath and continued, "Slytherin may not have realized that the way he left would give rise to quite the kind of rumors it did. According to Sharessa, while nobody knew he'd _left_ her there, everyone had pretty much known about her before that and liked her. Yes, even Gryffindor. He may not have expected her ever to be considered a threat at all."

"Gryffindor liked a _snake_?" Tom couldn't quite identify the voice, as it was somewhat strangled-sounding, but it definitely came from the Gryffindor tables.

"Sharessa said Godric Gryffindor liked her once he got used to her, and used to scratch her eye ridges." Tom paused as Rubeus reached up to do just that, and added dryly, "Of course, she COULD have just been angling for a scratch. She's very greedy about that."

"A bit like Fido, is she?" MacMillan's voice observed, with laughter in it.

"Most serpents like to be petted, by the right people," Tom replied, then fought down a blush by sheer force of will when half the Slytherin table burst into laughter.

Murphy, a Slytherin sixth year, didn't bother raising his hand but just called out his question. "If the Chamber of Secrets could only be opened by the Heir of Slytherin, and you're the only one who can talk to the basilisk, why do we have to share our points with the Gryffindors?"

"Because Rubeus helped me look for it and came down with me to help while I tried to figure out the secondary password." Tom smirked. "And don't even try to tell me you can't see why I'd want him along looking for what was reputed to be a monster."

There was spontaneous applause from the Gryffindor table. Rubeus turned pink.

"So where IS the Chamber?" someone called out.

Tom shrugged, crossed his arms, and casually replied, "Girls' toilet." He waited a moment until everyone stopped laughing, then grinned. "What, you want me to just TELL you?"

"Yes!" someone shouted. 

Tom just leaned back against Sharessa. "All it takes is five years of searching and some rudimentary Parseltongue." He winked. "Find it yourself."

*****


End file.
